The Armored Berserkers
by Iona Albuquerque
Summary: The Galactic Republic and The Sith Empire grow ever closer to war after a twenty year reconstruction truce following the Zakuul Crisis, both sides raise legions of new young warriors to battle over the fate of the Galaxy. One such warrior is a powerful young Sith Juggernaut who shall crush her way through the trials on Korriban and eventually become a Lord of The Sith. AU later F/F
1. The Tomb of Darth Sion

Twenty years after the fall of The Eternal Empire, The Galactic Republic and The Sith Empire have grown restless after two decades of peace and now, once again the galactic superpowers are on the verge of all out war. The Sith Empire has been reunited under an ambitious and incredibly powerful Sith Pureblood named Empress Ecyntha, meanwhile, The Galactic Republic has elected an equally young and equally ambitious Togruta Chancellor Sullensa, with thousands of planets, trillions of soldiers, and entire star fleets in the hands of a pair of young women, war is on the horizon. Empress Ecyntha is not one to be unprepared for war and thus, The Sith Academy on Korriban is filled to over flowing with acolytes, thousands of warriors are spread across dozens of classes as they fight for their lives, their only choices are to die or to become Sith and, for a powerful young Sith Pureblood arriving on Korriban, death is not an option. She will became Sith, she will crush her enemies, and she will become a Juggernaut, but perhaps most critically, she was smart too. Her name is Tsyllos Zharne and she will fight to defeat her fellow acolytes to become the apprentice of the scheming Lord Lalvinathy.

So this isn't the first SWTOR story I've written...or tried to write for that matter - but it is the first one I'll post on this account, this story is basically a sequel to SWTOR and it's as if the Juggernaut advanced class had its own story. We will start on Korriban and head to Dromund Kaas next but, beyond that, the story should end up looking very different than the Sith Warrior story, we may visit some of the same worlds, we may visit some different ones, we may visit some planets of my creation, we shall see. This story will update every other week - it alternates with my Europa Universalis story The Legacy of The Romans which focuses on Russia and The Ottomans in the 17th century, check it out if you're interested - I suspect chapter lengths will be a bit shorter here than on that one. Anyway, lets go!

The Armored Berserkers.

Prologue.

The Trials of The Sith.

Chapter I.

The Tomb of Darth Sion.

* * *

I glanced across my fellow acolytes, sizing up the rest of my class. Lord Lalvinathy clearly had some rather specific criteria for her apprentice - the Sith tended to be up to something when selecting specific criteria, I suspected this was no exception, my future master was up to something - all of us were female, all of us would rather fight with a vibrosword than depend wholly on the Force, yet none of us were overly physically imposing - Lalvinathy wanted our enemies to underestimate us, I know for certain that many, many of my enemies had. I was 5'8 and I was more toned than muscular, however, I was able to use the Force to amplify my natural strength as well as my nature durability, I could fight like a man twice my size and with twice the speed, not only that, but I could take ten times the blow they could. I wasn't boasting, I was stating facts, the trainers on Dromund Kaas can attest to that - I earned my place here on the shuttle to Korriban, I couldn't be sure if the others had, not to the same extent as I did anyway.

We were all equipped with the same gear - black hooded robes with tight pants, both interwoven with armored plating and a black Sith Warblade that glowed red when activated - however, that only made our differences stand out more. Next to me, there was a blonde human with a scowl and a long scar on her face, most of the other acolytes were intimidated by her, I was not and I proved that by sitting down right next to her, she wasn't going to intimidate me, no one on Korriban was. On the opposite side, to my left, there was an orange skinned Zabrak who shaved her fair, exposing her long, sharp horns, I suppose that too was supposed to be intimidating, but what would she do? Bend over and run into me? It was foolish. Opposite the Zabrak sat the largest of us, another human, this time a brunette with a dark complexion, she sat down and minded her own business, I could respect that, she didn't want to play mind games, she wanted to play fair...though playing fair wouldn't keep me from tearing her apart to become Sith. On the other end of the opposite bench sat an alien, a violet skinned Twi'Lek with the telltale scars of a slave collar around her neck - she had worked in the mines, probably tried to escape once or twice, but, soon enough, they found her to be Force-Sensitive and sent her here, she couldn't help but be nervous...I didn't blame her, I wouldn't want to be up against me either. The one in the middle of the opposite bench, the one directly opposite of me, was the only one who actually worried me, she would be the only challenge. She was a Cyborg with one artificial eye and numerous implants across her pale skin, the redhead had scars and cybernetics everywhere that indicated a very dark and very troubled past, yet despite that, she was smiling, laughing, and talking the most of us, she was not worried, she was confident, perhaps too confident, and that made me wary.

"Well, well, well...we're getting close." the Cyborg grinned as The Sith Academy on Korriban appeared as a dot in the distance in the window of our shuttle "Perhaps I should introduce myself, my name is Gerona Halfur and I will have the distinct pleasure of murdering the lot of you."

"Oh? Is that so?" I countered with a smirk of my own, raising one of the bony, protruding eyebrows along my red-skinned face - I was a Sith Pureblood and that was made very clear by the thin bony eyebrows with curved outwards to a point and a pair of similar protrusions extended downwards from my face on either side of my chin, I also had three golden piercings on the lower ridge below both of my crimson red eyes and a dot piercing on either side of my mouth - I was very much a stereotypical Sith Pureblood and I was not going to be defeated in the trials of the Sith on my people's very own homeworld, especially not by some human girl who can't even hold her own body together.

"Yes," Gerona countered, refusing the crumble even under my tremendous unspoken pressure, she did, however, giggle before asking me "Who are you anyway Miss High-and-Mighty? Think that red skin alone will get you through these trials?"

"Tsyllos Zharne," I answered "And red skin is not what will get me through these trials, what will get me through these trials is seeing you squirm underneath me as I crush that last fool stupid enough to stand in my way of being a Sith."

"Charming Tsyllos, now, I'm going to take longer cleaning your brain matter out of my boot than I will killing you, but until then, I wouldn't mind squirming under you once or twice - when and where, red?" She heckled, I rolled my eyes, I was into women but that didn't mean I was in any mood to romp around with a machine with some pieces of skin attached, I could do better. I would be a Sith soon, I could have women brought to me in cages if that's what I wanted, nevertheless, I couldn't very well let Gerona think she could embarrass me, no, I was better than her in every way and I didn't even need a single cybernetic implant to prove that, therefore, I jumped in with a retort.

"Oh? we can do it right now on the exit ramp, quick, you go first!" I retorted and she laughed it off but, crucially, she did not try and best me again, it was merely a little bit of banter, but I was already establishing my dominance over the rest of the acolytes, regardless of what the lustful psychotic little cyborg wretch wanted to think, she was nothing and she would succumb to my onslaught just like all the rest of these unfortunate would-be Sith.

"Well, I'm Gerona and she's Tsyllos, what of the rest of you?" the cyborg asked as we both surveyed the shuttle, wondering who was the next bravest sole after the pair of us, her eyes lingered on the dark skinned human whilst I turned to the scowling blonde, however, we were both wrong, it was the Twi'lek and former slave who spoke up next, perhaps she wasn't all that nervous after all, perhaps she wanted us to underestimate her, perhaps it was nothing, but I was intrigued and, whatever mistake I made when sizing her up, I would not make again.

"Uvera Ca'el," the Twi'lek answered "I know I can die here, I know all but one of us will die, but I'd rather die here than in the mines - can you say the same?"

"I can - those who die in the slavery are pathetic, those who die in the trials on Korriban are pathetic too, but to die trying to become Sith is infinitely more glorious than to die in chains." I countered, I believed it too, I was destined to be Sith, I spent my whole life to become Sith, my parents forced me to train even when I was scarred, bruised, and exhausted - if I died on Korriban, it would be pathetic, it would mean that I spent sixteen years with one purpose in life and I couldn't even do that much, however, for a slave, to even be able to step foot on Korriban was a privilege, if Uvera died here, her death would mean a thousand times more than what a whimpering death in the mines or in some slave pen would mean. Sith culture makes it quite clear that even the lowest Sith is greater than anyone else, especially slaves, slaves are the bottom of Sith hierarchy, below only Imperial citizens who in turn are below Imperial soldiers - service to the Sith is a sure fire way for Imperials to rise in society, favoritism is written into our laws.

"Well...on that happy note - who the bloody hell are you?" Gerona asked the Zabrak, the redheaded Cyborg was quite cheerful and confident in herself, but that overconfidence would be her downfall - she didn't know Korriban like I did and, based on her cybernetic, she didn't know combat as well as I did - cybernetics may amplify your abilities, but there is a reason why you had to replace your cut off arm or leg with a cybernetic replacement, to me, cybernetics symbolize sloppiness and I will abuse Gerona's sloppiness, her cybernetics mark weaknesses and I will crush those weaknesses. Strategy and knowledge will get one much further than strength alone, especially when that strategy and knowledge is combined with at least as much strength and very likely more.

"Mera Avanaj," she answered, she seemingly wasn't going to say more but Gerona egged her on "The Sith made it quite clear when they ripped off my actual chains just to put me in the Academy's chains, I will become Sith or I will die...I don't intend on dying."

"My name is Ubaya Siem, I was attempting to join the Imperial Military when I was found to be Force-Sensitive, I admit that I found the news surprising, however, I was willing to serve then and I'm willing to serve now." the dark skinned human responded without being prompted, I imagine that she knew Gerona was going to pester her into giving an answer anyway. Ubaya seemed like an upstanding imperial, volunteering for our armies and willing to take on the trials on Korriban even if she doubted herself next to the Cyborg, the Twi'lek slave, the Zabrak warrior, and the Sith Pureblood, not to mention the scowling blonde woman sitting next to me, the woman who hasn't said a single word yet already seems like she'll join Gerona and I in the upper echelon of this class of acolytes, the Twi'lek, Zabrak, and indeed even Ubaya might be able to do swimmingly in other classes, however, against us, they will all fall, in some ways, it's a shame to lose so many potential warriors, however, in the process of weeding out the weak, the strong grow stronger. I will be better because of these trials than I would be otherwise, I will be better because I will have to defeat the rest of this powerful class of warriors.

"And you blondie?" Gerona turned to the final member of our class, the silent, scowling blonde acolyte. She rolled her eyes before turning towards Gerona and raising her chin - this woman had a hard past, first there was the long, obvious scar along the side of her face, but a number of little, nasty scars covered her neck, rendering her mute. Uvera the violet-skinned Twi'lek had clearly been an ex-slave and she had the scars from a slave collar to prove it, but this silent acolyte had very different scars, they seemed almost like crude surgery, as if someone had the tools but didn't know how to use them - perhaps it was a thief masquerading as a doctor or a particularly sadistic Sith, in any case, we weren't going to get answers because her vocal cords were gruesomely slit, however, that didn't stop Gerona from mocking here, relentlessly "Oh? Sith's got your tongue? To bad, I would've enjoyed hearing you scream as I killed you in the tombs, oh well, I'll settle for the sound of your bones crunching as I stomp your ribs into your heart...too much? You know, you could have just gotten an artificial voice box, mechanical screams are almost as good as natural ones...I should know, I caused a few. The best one was..."

"Are you finished?" I spat, interrupting Gerona relentless chattering, for all her threats, for all her confidence, for all her cybernetics, she would stand no chance against me - I would not mock these acolytes, they were weaklings, that much is true, but I will fight them with honor and I will annihilate them with honor, though at this point, I may make an exception for Gerona, the cyborg seems to think that she can win these trials with nothing other than intimidation and mind games, I would prove that she was wrong by splattering her brains all over the walls of a tomb.

The shuttle landed in a hanger in The Sith Academy building itself - I was not surprised, by now the tombs in The Valley of The Dark Lords at the base of The Sith Academy were looted relentlessly for centuries and thus, there was little more knowledge to be gained and few artifacts left to steal, additionally, so many acolytes, slaves, and beasts brought in for the trials were severely damaging the tombs of the ancient Sith, leading to The Sphere of Ancient Knowledge making a formal request to Empress Ecyntha to protect and conserve the tombs, a request which our Empress granted. Now, Sith trials took us to newer, more distant tombs spread throughout Korriban. Thus, one by one, we got our individual trials and took speeders out to the distant tombs of Korriban. I hung back, I wanted my trial last, Gerona, unsurprisingly, rushed in first. That was fine by me, the less time spent around the obnoxious cyborg, the better.

Our Overseer was a brunette human female with hazel eyes and a double-bladed lightsaber at her hip, she wore robes rather than armor and I'd imagine that she herself trained as a Sith Inquisitor of the Assassin discipline while Lord Lalvinathy wanted an apprentice who was a Sith Warrior of the Juggernaut discipline, still, our Overseer's own abilities and specialties did not impact her ability to teach us I suppose, besides, so many acolytes are going through this Academy with so few Overseers to teach them that Lord Lalvinathy may not have had another option - I can imagine there's quite a waiting list for Sith apprentices, I may need to remember that for when I inevitably return to Korriban for my own apprentice.

"Acolyte Tsyllos." the Overseer summoned me after sending the others off, I approached without hesitation in order to make it clear that my waiting was not out of cowardice by rather out of sport, let my rivals get a head start, I will still beat them, I'll go to whatever tomb they send me to, survive whatever obstacle they throw at me, and return to the Academy before my fellows "My name is Overseer Uzalso, Lord Lalvinathy and I looked at every acolyte and handcrafted the trials, yours are no exception. You will take a speed to the distant Tomb of Darth Sion and there you will study from a holocron about how Sion was able to use his rage and his power to heal himself and keep himself together, but it will not be easy, you are not the first to journey into Sion's tomb, many have come before and many of those remain in the tomb to this day, using the lessons of the holocron to defend the tomb from outsiders. Journey there, defeat the possessed zealots, study the holocron, and return to The Sith Academy to meet me in my office with the rest of your class - understood?"

"Yes, my Overseer." I bowed before setting off on my trial, taking the speeder to The Tomb of Darth Sion.

* * *

The entrance to The Tomb of Darth Sion was a cliff overlooking one of the battlefields between the Sith and The Eternal Empires during Zakuul's assault on Korriban, the valley below was filled with fallen walkers, burned out tanks, dead soldiers, and even the lightsabers of fallen Sith, however, the three centuries old Tomb held itself together, just like Sion himself, the most direct warrior of The Sith Triumvirate, did during the Great Jedi Purge. I left my speeder on the cliff near the entrance and climbed down the steps into the Tomb, feeling the radiant darkness and raw power within - Peace is a lie, there is only passion, through passion, I gain strength, through strength, I gain power, through power, I gain victory, through victory, my chains are broken, the Force shall set me free! I am Sith, Korriban is my destiny, the power of a thousand generations of Sith flows through me and I am in my element amongst the ancients, those who crushed their enemies before me, those who held absolute power absolutely, those who were relentless in combat. Perhaps one day, I could be among them, I was destined to not only become Sith but become a Lord of the Sith and beyond that, a Darth, a great one at that, one who deserved a tomb, but for now, I would have to take on my trails and prove myself to the Overseers and Lord Lalvinathy, only then could I become her weapon as my first step towards greatness.

The path to greatness evidently began with ambushes as, when I entered the first antechamber of the tomb, four former Sith Acolytes ambushed me with old training blades - Sith Warblades were now standard issue at the Academy for aspiring warriors, so evidently these acolytes have been here for some time, their bloodshot eyes turned yellow with the Dark Side certainly attested to that, however, despite all that time learning, they weren't particularly tough enemies. The charged at me and two of them managed to reach me at the same time, swinging their primitive weapons at me, however, I leaped backwards and they ended up locking blades instead, capitalizing on their surprise and their mistake, I attacked with my Warblade. I kicked one in the leg hard causing him to recoil backwards, opening up the way for me to swing my sword through the other's torso, turning quickly with bloody flying across the room off of my blade I came around and stabbed the guard I had kicked earlier. The third tried to take the opportunity to attack me from behind, raising his weapon high above his head to bring down on me, however, he was a weakling despite taking Sith Trials and becoming a follower of Darth Sion's ways, so, he hesitated for just a moment, but a moment was all I needed to impale him with my Warblade and rip him from this life. There was a fourth Sith to fight, this one a female, however, she was smarter than her follow former acolytes, she was clearly still here and she was going to bounce out and attack me at any moment, however, she had done so in such a way that she had escaped my sight, she would've gotten the bump on me had I been a mere trooper or even a lesser acolyte, but I was a Sith to the bone.

I closed my eyes and reached out with the Force, to a Jedi, the Darkness in this Tomb would be like a dense fog blocking their vision, however, for me, for someone attuned to the ways of the Sith, seeing through the Dark Side was like looking through crystal clear water and I immediately picked out the final assailant just as she leaped out at me from behind an old statue. She tried to stab me in the back but I grabbed my Warblade and placed it behind my back, catching her sword and robbing her of the element of surprise. I blocked her strike before turning turning around to face her and striking again, locking my Warblade against her training blade. She was a good duelist with her weapon, perhaps more than most acolytes arriving on Korriban, however, I was Sith and I was stronger than her, so slowly but surely I overpowered her, pushing her back with our blades still connected, I pushed her up against the wall of the Tomb and watched her expression turn from a pained grimace of effort to a horrifying realization of doom, something I cherished. I separated our blades with shocking quickness and then, with a second crushing blow, I literally knocked the pathetic little vibrosword from her hand, before grabbing her throat with my right hand. I pulled her forward with one hand before slamming her back into the wall, hearing a delightful crunch as her skull hit the brick behind her before then forcing her into the ground and snapping her neck.

Cruelty was an unnecessary evil and it often did more harm than good for the Sith, however, there is a big difference between being cruel to the innocent and being brutal in combat, I did not want to harm the civilians who formed the backbone of my civilization and I especially did not want to harm the people who were actively helping me, however, my enemies were my enemies and I would be absolutely brutal to them, I would slice, smash, and bludgeon my way through my enemies as I deem appropriate, so yes, I did brutally murder the female acolyte who stood in my way, but no, I will not be pointlessly and stupidly evil like many of my Sith companions, I would be smart about when and where I use my strength, ensuring that I do maximum harm upon my enemies while ensuring that those who supported me operated with maximum morale and maximum potential.

So, as I proceeded deeper and deeper into the Tomb towards Sion's holocron, I fought with maximum brutality. An acolyte, one who must have thought himself smart opted to launch Force Lightning at me, however, we was weak and his lightning was slow, I easily caught the pitiful blue energy with my right hand while approaching the Sorcerer, holding my Warblade in my dominant left hand. I could have simply directed the lightning back at him, but where is the fun in that? I wanted to be sporting about it after all. Unfortunately for them, the Sorcerer's friends did not wish to be sporting, one attempted to charge me with a vibrosword from my left but he left himself far too open and I was able to cut upwards across his torso, killing him and sending his weapon falling to the ground with a thud - the gore was just enough to stop the third acolyte who was about to attack me from the right - once again, hesitation is a fatal mistake. I swung my body around while keeping my right hand in place, twisting around and extending my left arm and Warblade until it came through the acolytes neck and liberated his head. I swung my body all the way around and brought my sword down on the sorcerer, sorcery was impressive, but without the raw power to back it up, Force Lightning was no match against another Force user who could simply absorb it if not redirect it entirely.

I was strong in the Force and I could've been a Sorcerer if I had wanted to, I would by no means by the best, nor would I even be particularly impressive, however, I could certainly hold my own, but that wasn't for me, I found that fighting style far too static and impersonal. I wanted to see the final looking of complete and utter fear as my blade impaled anyone and everyone foolish enough to oppose me, I enjoyed the powerful feeling of armored boots stomping over the corpses of the enemy, and I wanted nothing more than to beat a Jedi Master using nothing more than my talents with a lightsaber. The Force was an excellent tool, incredibly powerful and the thing which set the Sith apart from the common masses, however, I was much more interested in physical fighting, I would shoot Force Lightning or Force Choke my enemies as the circumstances demanded, however, I would not make that my entire fighting style, I would fight like a warrior, amplifying my lightsaber attacks with the Force, choking my enemies, and throwing my lightsaber at distant targets, honor and glory are my birthright, I will use my weapons to teach that to my enemies and I will use my words to teach that to my allies. The distinction between punishment and cruelty is what will set me apart from the other Sith, I will be strong, I will be evil, and I will be more powerful than anyone can possibly imagine, but I will be strong, evil, and powerful in a smart way.

So I cut my way through these so-called followers of Sion whilst planning my role in The Sith Empire like any aspiring Warrior-Philosopher would - I pictured my sleek and super-modern starship as I bisected a female acolyte, I fantasized about dueling with an powerful Sith Juggernaut apprentice as I pommeled another acolyte with the hilt of my Warblade, and I could practically feel The Dark Council naming me a Darth as I lifted an acolyte into the sky and sent him flying into a pillar on the other end of the room. The Tomb shook from the impact and a permanent impression was left on the pillar, however, only a few bricks and some dust joined his corpse on the ground - I did not come all the way to Korriban just to die from my very first Tomb collapsing above me, these Tombs held valuable knowledge and power than the Sith could exploit beyond mere trials, this Tomb would survive, even if I was sure that I could level this place if I wanted to.

I finally reached the final long hallway leading to the chamber where Sion's holocron stood, I felt perfectly natural walking alongside the statues of ancient Sith - these statues were clearly imported, Darth Sion did not know any Purebloods and he himself clearly did not care enough to have their statues built, however, the Sith who built his Tomb would see no issue with removing the statues from some place they destroyed or desecrated and leaving them here in the Tomb, bringing a place that was only three centuries old up to a similar standard as the ancient Tombs of The Valley of The Dark Lords at the base of The Sith Academy. The statues evidently held a darker secret as well because, before I reached the other end of the hallway and entered the holocron chamber, the door sealed and, from behind the statues, four acolytes appeared joining a shirtless bald man with a double-bladed vibrosword wearing black tattoos that, when combined with his pale complexion, made him look quite similar to the stereotypical image of Darth Sion, the man's weapon instead reminded me of the many Sith Assassins he employed in his Jedi Purge, Assassins with the same role and much of the same equipment as the modern Sith Assassins. I was outnumbered and potentially outmatched, however, I did not run from this fight, instead, I relished it and jumped in with absolute glee.

I held my Warblade in one hand and stopped a strike with one of the acolytes while simultaneously kicking another in the chest, I swung around and my weapon cut through the acolyte I kicked before the first acolyte caught my blade again, we were locked together, neither of us could move our blade without surrendering our lives to the other, however, I was not going to be denied so, with our blades pressed together, I marched him against the wall just like I had to the female acolyte earlier, however this time, forced his own vibrosword to cut through his head, murdering the man. I killed two but three opponents still remained, one armed with a dangerous and exotic weapon. I locked blades with the wannabe Sion as the other two acolytes rushed me - with one of them, the path was simple enough, I grabbed his wrist with my free hand and twisted the vibrosword out of his hand before pulling him down, kneeing him in the chest, throwing him to the ground and stomping on his throat, executing him. The second of the acolytes to rudely interrupt our struggle was somewhat smarter than Sion's otherwise unimpressive colleagues, she made it look like she was going to swing for my torso before adjusting her blade and aiming for my feet - I had to react quickly. I rebelled Sion's would-be clone by charging my Warblade with lightning, forcing him to either disconnect or be electrocuted, unlike the true Sion, he opted to disconnect. This gave me the freedom to leap up into the air over the blade of the attacked.

The Force amplified my senses while I was mid-air and allowed me to use that brief second to plan my next course of action. As I was midair I used the Force to propel myself down at the female acolyte, I pinned her to the ground and she slid across the stone ground with enough force to tear her back open and caused her to scream in pain. I slit her throat with my vibrosword before rolling out of the way of the male acolyte with the double-bladed vibrosword - if she wasn't dead when I finished her, the fact that the double-bladed vibrosword ended up slicing into her head would've definitely finished her off - despite stabbing a corpse, my staff wielding opponent barely reacted, he pulled his blade out of his ally's corpses and came at me again whilst opening the door to the holocron chamber with the force - he wanted more room to fight, so be it, now I would kill him and I didn't even have to open the door afterwards.

I built up my energy and allowed my opponent to think he was gaining the upper hand, he swung one blade at me before attacking with the other and then again and again and again - he was relentless...the power of Darth Sion will be very useful indeed, this acolyte was nothing but a cheap impostor of a long dead Sith Lord, I was toying with him, but he was far, far more than he appeared to be, therefore, for someone like me, someone with real power and talent with the Force, the lessons of Darth Sion's holocron will be a game changer. Lord Lalvinathy and Overseer Uzalso were smart when they gave me this trial, they knew I was an excellent weapon and I made no secret of it, now, they would craft me into the weapon they need, the others are merely obstacles that I must overcome, Lalvinathy does not want some Twi'Lek former slave or an arrogant Cyborg, she wants a true Sith apprentice, well, lucky for her, I'm happy to oblige.

The Sion wannabe soon realized I was toying with him, perhaps if he were smart, he would've stopped acting and instead waited for a chance to counterattack, however, instead, like many foolish and dead Sith, he merely got angry, then, he got sloppy. The Sith teach us to use our anger and amplify our power, not to lose ourselves to rage, blind anger is useless and often counterproductive, this acolyte likely failed his trials because he failed to understand that, so in his blind rage and in his clumsiness, I managed to catch the hilt of his two-sided weapon with my right hand, stopping him. His eyes shot wide open and I merely smirked, he tried to struggle and I chuckled in response, he was about to die and he knew it. I lifted the weapon high above his head, giving me an opening - I kicked him hard in the chest and sent him flying without his weapon. He pathetically tried to scamper away on the ground before I stabbed his own double-bladed vibrosword through his ankle into the ground below, trapping him in the most painful way imaginable. I was going to enjoy this.

Tears flowed down his face, he begged for mercy, and he tried to wiggle his leg free, only making the ankle wound worse, all the while I slowly circled around him, I savored his fear for a few minutes before deciding to end his suffering - unlike many of the foolish Sith I mentioned earlier, I know when enough is enough. I raised the Sith Warblade high above him before plunging it down into his chest, executing him.

I pulled the red pyramidal Sith holocron into my hand with the Force and left the Tomb, I would study it at The Sith Academy before the Overseer dispatches me on my next trial, a failed acolyte dressing himself up like Darth Sion fought well, one could only imagine what a successful acolyte like me could do with that same knowledge and that same power at my disposal. I giggled, I will be an excellent Sith, I will spread murder and mayhem throughout the galaxy, and I will outsmart, outmatch, and outfight my enemies, delivering upon them the ultimate humiliation before killing them - I look forward to testing my talents against Jedi and Sith alike. The galaxy shall be my oyster, for I am Tsyllos Zharne and I am destined for greatness.

* * *

And that was chapter one! Ciao!

I love you all, peace out!


	2. The Tomb of Ludo Kressh

Hello all, welcome to chapter two of the Armored Berserkers, continuing on from Tsyllos' first trial in The Tomb of Darth Sion and following her as she learns from the holocron, returns to The Sith Academy, and sets off on her next trial.

The Armored Berserkers.

Prologue.

The Trials of The Sith.

Chapter II.

The Tomb of Ludo Kressh.

* * *

I used the speeder to return to The Sith Academy and found my way into a large meditation chamber on the same floor as the hanger. I climbed down the steps behind me as the door slammed shut with a hiss behind me, the natural light was gone and the black chamber was lit by nothing other than the powerful blood red lights of the chamber, bathing me in darkness and anger - the power of the Dark Side was strong in this room and it was excellent, I would expect nothing less from The Sith Academy. The blood red light of the holocron from Darth Sion's tomb matched the lighting of the chamber, as I dived in, drawing the Force and the knowledge from the ancient device as I entered a powerful meditative trance. Millions of cuts, broken bones, and blunt trauma flashed before my very eyes as I saw Darth Sion's injuries accumulate, the man should've died long, long, long before he was finally defeated by the Jedi Exile, but he withstood, he used the Dark Side to hold himself together and continuing fighting thanks to his rage and his hatred, the man achieved borderline immortality in exchange for feeling constant pain, he felt each and every injury he ever received in excruciating intensity constantly. Sion was a fool, he depended on this technique and never tried to expand it to actually heal himself, however, I was smarter, I would learn from that wretch's mistake and I would use my proficiency in the Force to heal myself in combat and keep myself in the fight against impossible odds. Healing injuries rather than just powering through them meant that my technique would not allow me to withstand quite as much as Sion, but that didn't matter, I would rather heal myself than turn into a cracked mass of burn tissue.

I learned from the holocron and began coming out of the meditative trance as the door opened with a hiss, my red eyes opened instantly and darted to the robed human male standing at the entrance. He wore black and purple robes with red pinstripes for trim, massive pointed pauldrons expanded out a foot in either direction from his shoulders and, on the pauldrons, hung a cape that was black on the outside and red on the inside. Under the black and purple hood stood sickly pale yellow, cracked skin with bloodshot eyes surrounding glowing red pupils. Rage and authority radiated off of this figure, his elaborate dress, his incredible power, and the lightsaber on his hilt made it very clear that this man is a very powerful, very important Sith, perhaps even a Dark Councilor.

"Who dares enter my meditation chamber?!" the man's voice bellowed through the chamber, his booming voice was layered by the Force and bouncing off of the walls, blue lightning was gathered at his fists, the man was strong in the Force, he thought that he could eradicate me without even taking the lightsaber off of his hip and, unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to deny that. I did, however, realize that he hadn't murdered me already, that betrayed his weakness, either, for all his power with the Force and his power over politics, he lacked that killer instinct to wipe out a mere acolyte - I had, evidently, been intruding in his meditation chamber after all - or he felt a powerful presence in the Force and expected far more than a mere acolyte. Either he was weak or I was strong, either way, I knew that the fact that I was still alive suggested he wasn't going to kill me - now, a dark part of me wanted to see just how far I could push him. This was not the wisest choice, I do admit, but I shall become Sith one day and I was eager to step into all the powers and all the privileges of the Sith, I shall claim my birthright, and I shall throw my weight around with Dark Lords of the Sith.

"My apologies my Lord, I was just wondering what my future meditation chamber will look like." I smirked, working a balance between the deference and respect that has to be paid to a Lord of the Sith and the power and arrogance that every young Sith should have, I had to appear weaker than the Dark Lord yet simultaneously not weak enough to be useless to The Sith Empire. If I appeared too weak, I would be murdered and discarded arbitrarily, such is the fate of the weak, but if I appeared too strong, I would appear as a threat and I would be wiped out as all threats to Sith Lords must be. I may be a Sith Pureblood and I may be a powerful asset for The Sith Empire going forward, but I knew that I had to bide my time, right now, I recognized that I was just another filthy acolyte shuffling between the feet of giants. I would become immensely powerful, but right now I was nothing, but I was a nothing with the potential to become something, right now, it was my mission to make sure that this Sith Lord saw that and allowed me to survive my mistake.

"You will have nothing! You intruded on my chambers and you will pay the price!" evidently I hadn't gone enough, I had been too arrogant, too strong, therefore, this Dark Lord lashed out at me and launched his Force Lightning at me, I clutched the holocron and braced myself for the impact but it didn't do me much good as the lightning sent me flying into the opposite wall behind me, the holocron fell to the ground in front of me and tears threatened to flow from my eyes, but I did not allow it, I clutched my hands into fists and embraced the pain, a guttural growl developing in my throat as I embraced my adaptation of Sion's theory, dulling the pain and healing my injuries. I stepped forward from the wall despite the onslaught, I saw a flash of shock across the human Sith Lord's face but he did not let up, nevertheless I stepped forward once more and again and again and again before the Dark Lord dropped the lightning.

He was seething with rage but I thought that my stunt had been just enough to spare me from any more torment, I thought that I had managed to either shock or impress the Sith enough that he realized I was enough of an asset to spare me. I was wrong. With an angry scream and a powerful wave of his hand I was knocked off my feet and I slammed into the ground below, meanwhile, with impossible speed, the Sith Lord seemed to come from the top of the stairs to the center of the meditation chamber directly in front me me with one step, his heavy, booted foot slamming down on my ankle to keep me in place.

I bit down and tried to bear the pain, this was the end it seems, I had accidentally pissed off a Dark Lord of the Sith on my second visit to The Sith Academy and my status as a Sith Pureblood would do nothing for me here, a Sith Pureblood acolyte was superior to a human acolyte, but a Sith Pureblood acolyte was nothing compared to a Dark Lord of the Sith regardless of species. I had come all the way to Korriban, I had effortlessly completed my first trial, and I learned from Sion's acolyte - I received a taste of my destiny and now all of it will be ripped away from me because I wandered into the wrong room, I couldn't help but laugh sardonically, becoming Sith had been my destiny, now I was going to be nothing more than a stain on some Dark Lord's meditation chamber.

I felt the pressure on my ankle lessen for just a moment but then it all clicked, the Dark Lord was disturbed by what he perceived as masochism. I smirked internally, I found a way out of this. I released a high pitched psychotic laugh that made the Sith Lord not only release me but back a way a few steps. I decided to embrace this routine for just a moment, I used the Force to pull myself up, floating up from the ground and landing on my feet, all while continuing to cackle maniacally, I stuck my hand out abruptly and used the Force to quickly pull the holocron to my hand. As soon as the holocron reached my hand my fingers slapped down around it and my laughter abruptly stopped, my red eyes looked into the Dark Lord's eyes. I was practically daring him to do something, I had returned to my arrogance and I stood in front of him, weight evenly distributed across my ankles, as if he never laid a finger on me, just like Darth Sion's holocron had taught me. The Dark Lord's expression soured once again and his anger began flowing back in, but it was more measured this time - I had managed to make it very clear that I would be an asset to The Sith Empire and that I would blossom into a Sith that is not to be trifled with.

"My apologies my Lord, I will be taking my leave now." I replied with a bow as he barely nodded, he was just barely restraining himself from murdering me because of my survival and my healing. I left the room just slow enough to not appear scared but simultaneously just fast enough to get out of there before he lashed out with his anger. I just barely got out of the room when the Sith Lord clenched his fist and the door slammed shut far faster than it did before, the lack of a mechanical hiss revealing that it was shut exclusively on that Sith Lord's power. As I observed the doorway to the meditation chamber, I found the Sith Lord's name - Darth Verphur, a member of The Dark Council. The Dark Council were the most powerful Sith in the galaxy, legendary warriors like Darth Imperius, The Empire's Wrath, and their successors, they were second only to Empress Ecyntha herself. I had only just gotten to Korriban, I had completed my first trial, and I nearly got myself killed by a Dark Council. Now, I admit that it would be quite glorious to go out in a blaze of glory after a week straight of relentless, unlimited combat to the death against a Dark Councilor, but I am not capable of that fight just yet, right now, it would've been a bloodbath at my expense had I not been an inconsequential and disturbing acolyte that Verphur imagined he'd never see again.

I turned around quickly and left this floor, taking the elevator down to the main hall of The Sith Academy, I had received a close call already today and there was no reason to remain loitering on this floor containing only the hanger, the elevator, and rooms belonging to Dark Councilors, including the ceremonial Dark Council Chamber itself - The Dark Council usually met at the Citadel on Dromund Kaas, however, on major occasions, they would meet on Korriban, the ancient homeworld of the Sith, here at the top of The Sith Academy - in any case, I quickly shook it off, I did not allow myself to show any fear and I went to go find Overseer Uzalso and receive my next trial. I had learned from Darth Sion's holocron and that knowledge is the reason why I'm arriving in perfect condition rather than limping with a broken ankle covered in electrical burns, now all I had to do was turn in that holocron and receive my next trial.

* * *

Overseer Uzalso was calmly pacing back and forth when I arrived in her office, hands behind her back and a pleasant expression on her face. Her skin was pale, but not sickly so, she had healthy hazel eyes, and her hair was rich, straight, and chocolate brown, for all intents and purposes she appeared to be a perfectly normal woman, however, that only proved how powerful she truly was. A double-bladed lightsaber sat deactivated on her hip, foreboding and implying that Uzalso holds considerable skill with exotic weapons, meanwhile, she wore light, ornamental robes more comfortably than most Sith would wear armor, and behind those pretty hazel eyes I could see considerable power, Uzalso could crush me if she pleased, just like Darth Verphur could have, however, for whatever reason, I get the feeling that Uzalso would not have hesitated from mere laughter, in fact, the fact that she has a mundane smile on her face within a place as saturated with dark power as The Sith Academy on Korriban suggests that she may truly hold some of that madness that I impersonated during my encounter with the Dark Lord.

Her appearance is most certainly deceiving, she must have embraced the power of the Dark Side to be so powerful and to have such a position in the Academy, not only that, she also has the power to keep her body together, safe from the consequences of the Dark Side, and she even masks her signature within the Force - when I close my eyes and reach out, she is little more than a shadow, which, combined with the double-bladed lightsaber on her hip, suggests that she may have trained as a Sith Assassin, and a far more successful one at that than the wretch who I fought within The Tomb of Darth Sion. She will be an excellent teacher, she is powerful, she is knowledgeable, and she is more than she appears to be - that is the kind of Sith that should be an Overseer, now, admittedly, it would be better if she was a Sith Pureblood rather than a mere human, but her species will suffice, it has no real impact on my trials - this is the kind of Sith that has earned my respect, and, when I rise through the ranks of The Sith Empire, crushing my enemies, growing stronger, and rising from a wretch to someone that can legitimately challenge the likes of Darth Verphur, Uzalso is the Overseer I will task with finding me an apprentice. For some, thinking of an apprentice while merely an acolyte is presumptuous, arrogant, but for me, it is simple fact - I am a Sith Pureblood, I am strong in the Force, I have wronged a Dark Lord and lived to tell the tale, I have journeyed from Dromund Kaas to Korriban, I have followed the footsteps of a thousand Dark Lords, and I will not be denied my birthright, not now, and not ever.

Thus, I pulled the holocron from my robe and knelt, presenting myself to Overseer Uzalso, awaiting my judgement, awaiting news of my success, and awaiting my next trial. The fact I am still alive today after by electrocuted by a Dark Councilor is proof of the holocron's authenticity, as if I had any doubt in my own abilities, Uzalso's observation is merely a formality. The Sith Academy cannot appear to be giving Sith Purebloods an unfair advantage over other species, years of warfare have thinned our numbers and Empress Ecyntha, herself a Pureblood, has decreed that Purebloods, humans, and aliens all will have the same rights within these walls, what matters now is our numbers and our ability, not our species. The Sith must regain our strength and crush the Republic with its Jedi guardians, after that we can worry about thinning our ranks of the wretched aliens.

"You received the holocron from Darth Sion's good, good." Uzalso stated before finally stopping her pacing, now standing in front of me, the human female towering over my knelt body, but I did not dare show fear, I showed far too much during my encounter with Darth Verphur, as a Pureblood Sith I am better than that, I must be better than that, I survived his onslaught, I can certainly survive a Sith Overseer, regardless of how powerful she may be, regardless of how much respect she commands, regardless of the fact that she could easily execute me at this stage, she is still an Overseer "Gerona, Uvera, Ubaya, and the mute all completed their first trials too, Gerona in particular was quite pleased with herself, but Mera...Mera was executed in the exact stop where you now kneel - remember that acolyte - now, onto your next trial. Your physical might is not in question, you have proven that in your training on Dromund Kaas and in your battles in The Tomb of Darth Sion, the holocron you retrieved has only improved that, but what of your mental might? Is your mind another one of your many strengths, Tsyllos, or is it the weakness that will send you toppling to the ground?"

"My mind will survive whatever you wish to throw at it Overseer, I am a Juggernaut in more than just training!" I boasted, knowing full well that I didn't actually know how strong my mind was, nor whether or not obfuscating madness in front of Darth Verphur was a complete fabrication or suggests an unsettling weakness in my psyche, however, I will not coward away from my challenge. If I am to go mad or practically lobotomize myself with the Force during my trials, then so be it, because if I fail here, then that means I am nothing - how can I ever hope to challenge someone like Verphur if I cannot pass my own trials? The Jedi would tell you that Sith Trials are a pointless loss of life, an execution of talent and potential, however, if talent and potential cannot manifest itself in the life or death trials on Korriban, how can they manifest themselves in the life or death realities of life out in the galaxy? The Sith Trials are not a pointless loss of life, they are what separates the strong from the weak, they are what separates our civilization the countless civilizations that have risen and fallen throughout galactic history, they are where we find out who is and who is not worthy of becoming Sith. I will take Uzalso's trial of the mind and I will succeed, for I am Sith, and if I were to die, then that means that I could never be Sith, I will not allow my life to become a paradox.

"Very well, then prove it. The Tomb of Ludo Kressh lies below the east wing of the Academy, journey there and face your fears." Uzalso commanded before turning around and walking back to her desk, she sat down in her chair and began observing and taking notes on the holocron, all the while she didn't even look up at me, sending me a clear message to go and get on with my trial. Thus, I rose from my knelt position and left Uzalso's office, taking the stairs down into the main chamber of the Academy, a grand hall with a towering obelisk in the center topped with a massive holocron. I reached the ground floor and turned around, leaving the main hall and heading to an elevator. This elevator was identical to the one leading up to the third floor with the hanger and Dark Council chamber, other than the fact that it faced the opposite direction and went down instead of up.

The elevator took me down into the basement of the Academy, made up of the reinforced ruins of Revan's old Sith Academy, the antechamber at the entrance to that Academy was now nothing more than an elevator shaft, the main chamber was nothing more than a store room, and the former bedrooms now hosted generators and data storage for The Sith Academy above, however, I ignored all that, I made my way to a tunnel that was clearly recently made, excavated from the old Academy to the nearby Tomb of Ludo Kressh, cutting through a cave complex. The tunnel was littered with the bones of slaves, Shyrack, and ancient Sith, the bones of the weak, I would not be joining them. I would survive each and every onslaught, I would heal from the greatest wounds, and my mind would withstand whatever dark secrets lie within the tomb of a long dead, ancient Sith Lord.

The tunnel eventually opened up to the entrance chamber of The Tomb of Ludo Kressh, I walked past two statues of ancient Sith Purebloods and entered the long, dark hallway, now within the Tomb itself. I held my Sith Warblade in my hand, the curved obsidian blade with its glowing red edges ready to strike if anything dares attack a Sith Pureblood on her homeworld eager to take revenge. Nothing attacked me however, the hallway was completely empty and, not only that, the hallway was downright endless, my vision was enhanced compared to humans and most aliens, however, I could only see so far before everything was buried in shadows, therefore, I stopped, I had walked so far into the hallway that the entrance disappeared into shadows behind me as well, I couldn't see in either direction, I closed my eyes and reached out with the Force, attempting to feel out the layout of the Tomb.

The Tomb struck back, I reached out with the Force, but all I had accomplished is alerting the Tomb of my presence, I instantly felt a power force me down into the ground, my eyes slammed shut but I opened them up with a grunt, only the find that the room had changed around me, no longer a hallway, I was now kneeling in the Dark Council chamber, seven seats sat on either side of me, parallel to one another and, at the opposite end of the room was a massive throne completing a U-shaped layout. Empress Ecyntha sat in the throne while the fourteen Dark Councilor thrones were filled with a variety of Lords, mainly humans, a handful of Purebloods, and even a few aliens, I could make out sneers on their faces, particularly Darth Verphur, all their expressions were horrible, all except Darth Imperius - who seemed lost in her own little world as she looked over her nails - and the Empire's Wrath, whose expression was hidden by her mask.

"She is arrogant and powerless, perhaps even mad without any of the bluster to back it up, she shall not become a Darth. Nay." Verphur stated, evidently this vision was the Dark Council voting on whether or not to make me a Darth, suggesting that I would have ascended to power in a very unorthodox way, a way that has caused the Dark Council to review whether or not I shall become a Darth or not.

"She is powerful, you should know that Verphur, you had the chance to kill her and yet, here she stands. Aye." a female Cyborg interjected, she was the head of Sith Intelligence, now, Ecyntha reinstated Imperial Intelligence after her rise to power, however, Sith Intelligence still exists and the Sith still gather information and commit espionage completely independent of the Imperials below them, nevertheless, many Dark Lords decide to interfere with Imperial Intelligence anyway, as they should, the entire Sith Empire is subject to the Sith and all affairs can and will involve the Sith if we decide to be involved. Imperials have the privilege of living in our Empire, they do not have the right to get in our way.

"We need more Pureblood Darths and she is clearly capable, my vote is for aye." a male Pureblood voted.

"Her crimes are a serious threat to the Sith Empire, we cannot tolerate this! Nay!" a human male voted against me. I didn't know if this vote was a vision of the future or just a possibility created by my fear of being rejected by the Sith after all my life's work, but in any case, I was keeping a tally of who voted for me and who voted against me, I would rise to be a great Sith one day and I would one day be powerful enough to face Dark Councilors in battle.

"Her crimes are nothing that we haven't seen before countless times. Aye." a Twi'lek female replied, making me wonder - what was my crime? Had I killed my master? The student executing the master was traditionally common practice among the Sith, but Ecyntha has cracked down on it, she wants to preserve our numbers as much as possible, those who survive Korriban are good enough to be Sith, no other tests are necessary, one the trials are complete, the warriors are not to be tested in a life or death scenario until we are ready for war against The Galactic Republic. Betrayal wasn't the only crime in the Empire, perhaps I had spared a Jedi - I don't know why I would do that, but I also don't know why I'd end up in this situation to begin with, I was simply trying to decipher this vision and figure out how I can avoid becoming a victim at the mercy of the Dark Council.

"Nay!" another voice called, this time another male human, he was sickly pale with unkempt, greasy gray hair, he was a wretched being with sickly yellow eyes, he appeared to be a Sith Sorcerer.

"Nay!" a Sith Pureblood male with a burn across his face yelled, he was a Juggernaut like I was and he wore the scars to prove it, I suspected that he wore a helmet in battle, however, unlike the Empire's Wrath, he opted not to wear the mask in presence of the Dark Council. Perhaps that has to due with the Empire's Wrath status as an outsider, she had been the Emperor's Wrath during the controversial reign of Vitiate and was christened the Empire's Wrath after he betrayed the Sith, the Wrath has become a Dark Councilor, but she is very much a Dark Councilor and I suspect that the others are suspicious of her and that the feeling is mutual, especially given the Wrath's position was an add on to the Council, originally, it had been twelve, but then the Wrath and the head of Sith Intelligence were added in.

"This is preposterous, she is too powerful to get rid of - aye!" A bald dark skinned human male with glowing green eyes and a villainous black and red goatee. He wore a set of black and purple robes with neon green stripes, he was on my side and I took note of that. It was now four to four with six Councilors unaccounted for, I was grateful that, even in a vision that was either created by the Dark Side or twisted by it, my future self managed to impress the Dark Council itself to keep the vote so close and so impassioned, it seemed that, whatever I did, it was important enough to have repercussions for The Sith Empire as a whole. I am very intrigued to find out where my journeys lead me and what this vision is supposed to say.

"Aye!" a red-skinned Zabrak male Sith Assassin brought the vote in my favor, I dared to smirk.

"Hmm...nay." a sadistic Sith Pureblood female wearing robes which revealed her arms and her waist, she brought it back to a tie as I barely managed to keep from growling at her, vision or not, the Dark Council deserves a little bit of respect.

"She is more than worthy of the title, she is to become a Darth. Aye." a female Chiss with glowing red eyes stated, she was one of the only Chiss Force Users in the Galaxy and she rose to prominence as a dangerous Sith Marauder, now she has her place on The Dark Council as the head of The Sphere of Expansion and Diplomacy, securing our alliance with the increasingly militarized Chiss Ascendancy and several Hutt crime lords as we prepare to face the Republic once again. She brought it up to six against five, the chances were now very high that Empress Ecyntha herself would have to decide my fate, I tried to glance at the massive throne but, even in vision form, Ecyntha had the power to force my gaze down, her thoughts would not be known to me.

"Nay." a human male with a breathing mask said quietly, the large mask and the hood over his head covered up most of everything, but his glowing yellow-orange eyes and the sickly yellow burn tissue all over his face implied a horrifying fate for the man, yet he refused to use any cybernetics. I could wonder why this was the case, but given that he was literally in charge of The Sphere of Mysteries, but mysteries or not, he declared nay and he put himself on my list. It's not like I intend to murder all of those who voted against me, no one is strong enough to defeat six Dark Councilors, one is possible, two is barely imaginable, three or more is completely impossible, I think even Vitiate would've fallen in battle if he was up against six Dark Councilors at their prime and we have not seen someone so mercilessly powerful as him before or since, not even the ones who managed to defeat him are that powerful.

The vote finally came to the most active members of the Dark Council, even if their role in the Council itself may imply otherwise, Darth Imperius, the Rattataki former slave turned Sith Sorcerer appeared to be disinterested but I caught her various glances and reactions, her purple eyes, buried beneath the hood that covered up her species' baldness - were darting around the room, but she stayed silent up until now, she wanted to be among the last to vote. The Empire's Wrath was quite as well, now, I knew that she was a Sith Pureblood and the two lightsabers at her hip exposed her as a Sith Marauder, but beyond that, I wasn't able to tell much, her reactions were hidden by her mask and I could tell that we had something in common - we were both physical warriors, but we were both strong in the Force as well, and she was using the Force to mask her emotions. The two old combatants glanced at each other before Imperius finally nodded, she would be the one to go first, everyone knew that these two had history together, rising to prominence at the same time.

"Aye." she voted and all attention turned to the Empire's Wrath, even I dared to look at her.

"Nay." she voted, seven to seven, a perfect tie and indeed went down to Empress Ecyntha. The Dark Lord of the Sith simply cackled, I felt a powerful dark presence threatening to overwhelm me, a crushing feeling coming over me, a feeling that threatened to crush my throat and destroy me. This was the Tomb striking, but I withstood it, I growled deeply as I forced the feeling away from me and the vision itself flickered away but did not disappear. Ecyntha continued to cackle, not even missing a beat when the vision flickered.

"She will not be a Darth, she will die, killed by beasts like the pathetic little wretch she is!" she declared and I instantly sprang into action as the vision disappeared, revealing that I had somehow ended up in a better lit square chamber, two Tukata charged at me, the massive hellhound like creatures were charging me, one closer than the other. I sidestepped the first one and allowed it to run into my Sith Warblade, the beast howled as my blade cut a long wound down the side, meanwhile, the other leaped at me, I twisted around and shoved my Warblade up its chest, tearing up the weak underbelly and killing the second of the two beasts, but the first one was only cut up, it was still alive. It roared at me, blood spewing from the left side of its face, it was about to charge at me when I rose up my fist, putting pressure on its throat. struggling against the Tukata's Force resistance. Many of the creatures on Korriban were resistant to the Force, the Tukata were no exception, put I was stronger, I overpowered the Tukata and managed to being Force Choking its throat.

The Tukata beast began clawing at its throat and almost whimpering, I had him defeated so I approached him, slowly and carefully in case he managed to get out or decided to claw at me despite the fact he was suffocating to death, but I found no issue, therefore, I stabbed him in the chest with my Sith Warblade, putting the Tukata out of its misery. I turned around and found that the square room opened up to the hallway, a hallway that now appeared far, far shorter now that I survived the vision, the Force was strong in the Tomb and it definitely played a role in making the hallway appear infinitely long, but I had crushed my fears, there was no need to ask questions anymore. I kept the Dark Council vision in mind but, other than that, I left The Tomb of Ludo Kressh behind and returned to The Sith Academy, having completed my second trial. I encountered Darth Verphur, I faced my fear, and I was one step closer to becoming Sith.

I was one step closer to my destiny, The Tomb of Darth Sion rewarded me with a holocron that taught me how to use the Force to improve my endurance and heal myself in combat, now The Tomb of Ludo Kressh rewarded me with a potential vision of the future, I knew what Dark Councilors would be my allies and what Dark Councilors would be my allies, I also knew that my rise to power was destined to be controversial - bring it on! I will rise to power regardless of any and all barriers against me, I will take on each and every challenge in my way, if I am challenged to face the impossible, I will charge in and try regardless, I am a Sith Pureblood and it is my destiny to become a powerful Dark Lord of the Sith, even if half of the Dark Council does not believe that I can become a Darth.

I rose through The Tomb of Ludo Kressh, I rose through the old Academy, and I rose into the modern Sith Academy, I marched my way up the stairs and I entered Overseer Uzalso's chamber. I knelt down in the middle of the room with a smirking Gerona on my right, Ubaya the human on my left, and Uvera the Twi'lek on the other side of Gerona, the Overseer pacing back and forth in front of us as all three of us prepared for our next trial. Four mighty Juggernauts, but only one of us would become Lord Lalvinathy's apprentice, three of us would die, I would not.

* * *

Alright guys, this has been chapter two of The Armored Berserkers, I hope that you enjoyed!

I love you all, peace out!


	3. The Tomb of Ziost

Hello everybody, your thirty-fourth favorite SWTOR writer is here yet again with chapter three of Armored Berserkers. Tsyllos has learned how to hold herself together and heal herself from the Darth Sion's holocron and she faced her fears in The Tomb of Ludo Kressh, but Korriban is relentless and she has more challenges to face yet. So, let's get to the next one of those challenges, shall we?

By the way, Tsyllos is a Sith so her world view and her philosophy is going to reflect being a part of an evil faction even if she's not quite mustache-twirling kicking puppies for fun evil, so yeah, she believes in evil stuff that I don't believe in. I'm not in favor of mass executions of the weak, I'm not in favor of any militant theocratic sects like the Sith, and I'm not in favor of villainy - I don't support any of that, I'm simply trying to write a Dark Side character that has some depth to her but is very much an evil character. Her actions are unquestionably evil, but I hope that she's a conceivable kind of evil, not like some cackling evil villain that wants to destroy the galaxy for the sake of destroying the galaxy. Basically, I want Tsyllos to be both undeniably evil and realistic, but her beliefs are very, very different from my own. Contrary to popular belief, I'm a good person, that is all.

The Armored Berserkers.

Prologue.

The Trials of The Sith.

Chapter III.

The Tomb of Ziost.

* * *

Overseer Uzalso gave out our trials one by one, Ubaya was sent out to The Tomb of Exar Kun to retrieve an ancient lightsaber crystal protected by ravenous Massassi guards - the Massassi were a subspecies of Sith Purebloods who were experimented upon and mutated into wild beasts, but wild beasts with significant Force Sensitivity - this would be a glorious fight for her, one she would either win or have the honor of being killed by Sith, mutated, bestial Sith, but Sith nonetheless. Uvera the Twi'Lek was sent to The Tomb of Darth Malak to learn the story of the Jedi Civil War and the Star Maps - albeit a version of the story with Revan's role very much diminished due to her having a less than great reputation in The Sith Empire after the Revanite scandal. The mute blonde who I had initially thought more of seems to have failed her second trial and Gerona was sent to The Tomb of Darth Traya to complete her trial. Overseer Uzalso had once again saved me for last, confirming my suspicions that she had singled me out to succeed, rightfully so, I will serve Lord Lalvinathy far better than any other would-be Sith.

"I trust you are familiar with the tragedy of Ziost?" Overseer Uzalso asked, referring to the infamous incident where our former Emperor, the insane traitor Vitiate sucked the life out of Ziost slaughtering hundreds of millions of the most important people in The Sith Empire on one of our most historic and most significant worlds - the Sith species may be native to Korriban, but the world became a burial site long before Ajunta Pall and his disgraced followers arrived from Tython, the ancient Sith species made their capital on Ziost and it has always featured in one way or another in historic Sith Empires, up until the massacre. The planet is being rebuilt and resettled now, but the scars of its devastation and depopulation will continue to haunt The Sith Empire for much, much longer than it will take to rebuild the damage - it's easy to fix infrastructure compared to fixing a population.

"Of course," I replied, I was a Sith Pureblood trained by the finest minds and tutors on Dromund Kaas itself, I knew Sith history better than most, especially when it concerns worlds important to my species itself. The Sith species is the greatest element of The Sith Empire, which in turn is the greatest civilization the galaxy has ever seen, the best path for the galaxy is for strength to prevail over weakness. The Jedi believe in peace and they use force as a last resort, the Republic is better, but only slightly, they are still poisoned by the ways of the Jedi, autocracy is means to order and order justifies whatever atrocities must be committed in order to achieve it. A utopia by genocide and fire is a utopia nonetheless. The Sith Empire, if we can hold off on betraying one another and killing our fellow Sith who proved themselves on Korriban, then we can annihilate the Jedi, using our stronger abilities with the Force and our superior lightsaber skills, then we can apply our philosophy and our way of life to the whole galaxy, culling weakness, promoting strength, and liberating the galaxy from the eternal flaws of representative government - the idiotic masses can do far more damage than any individual tyrant, The Galactic Republic has proved that time and time again.

"There is a brand new Tomb under construction across Korriban, this tomb is dedicated to the planet of Ziost itself, in honor of the planet and the great warriors that it has produced. The Tomb is already shaping up to be one of the largest and most advanced Tombs on the planet, it will serve our needs well. You have the honor of being the first acolyte to take a trial in this Tomb - it is customary for would-be Marauders and Juggernauts to slay a great beast in their trials, fortunately for you, The Tomb of Ziost has been stocked with one example of Ziost's greatest beast, the Monolith, a Sithspawn, it is like a Terentatek made out rock and it will crush you if you are not worthy of being Sith. I trust you will prove that you are Tsyllos Zharne, but if you do not, I will not mourn your demise, nobody will - remember that." Uzalso was harsh but she was right, nobody remembers the wretches that perish in the Tombs because they don't matter, when it comes to the Sith, only the great ones matter, the only important Sith are the Sith who will one day rest in the great Tombs of Korriban. Every single person who died on Ziost - a tremendous loss for our Empire - are only as important for Sith civilization as a whole as a single Naga Sadow or Marka Ragnos. I will not allow my name to be forgotten, I will be remembered for all time as one of the greatest Sith that ever lived, I will make sure of that.

"I will slay the Sithspawn." I promised, nothing would stand between me and becoming Sith, certainly not a beast created by the powers of the Sith. I will crush the beast and I will honor those who have fallen on Ziost by drenching their Tomb in blood and glory, I will show them that from their ashes a new and glorious Sith shall rise. Thus, I rose from the ground in her office and marched down over to the elevator of The Sith Academy, returning to the third floor where Darth Verphur had bested me last time. I did not dare show fear, fear is the way of weaklings, fear is unbecoming of a Sith, I showed strength instead, I let my hatred at my own failure fuel me so that when the elevator finally reached the third floor of The Sith Academy, I was practically radiating with power.

The radiant little acolyte with a Sith Warblade and not a piece of armor to my name, but I made sure that anyone and everyone who saw me as I made my way to the third floor hanger knew I would one day be a great Sith Crusader, devastating entire armies of Republic troopers and Jedi alike as my holy armor protected me from entire starships worth of damage, I would slice troopers to pieces as some ignorant Jedi Padawan attempted to charge me from behind, I'd raise an arm without even turning around and begin Force Choking him, making him watch as I cut down his friends while he suffocated before finally turning to him and forcing his eyes to mine before using the Force to snap his neck. He would die knowing that the Sith were victorious and that the Jedi way was so flawed, so weak that I was able to kill him with two easy moves. I was practically drunk on my own theoretical greatness when I boarded my shuttle for The Tomb of Ziost, I may have failed against Darth Verphur, but I would not fail again, I was too strong for that, too smart for it.

* * *

The Tomb of Ziost was being built in a large square plaza surrounded by four towering new statues of contemporary Sith - an Assassin, a Sorcerer, a Marauder, and a Juggernaut to stand in for the kinds of Force users that Ziost would provide for The Sith Empire - these towering statues were meant to reference the many simplistic statues of ancient Sith littered throughout Korriban, but these statues were detailed and modern - the Juggernaut wore massive pauldrons, the Sorcerer's hands were summoning Force Lightning, the Assassin was posing with her ignited double-bladed lightsaber, and the Marauder had her two lightsabers crossed in a deadly X-shape. I'm sure that Ziost could've provided warriors like this as well as many non-Force sensitive imperials, however, Vitiate robbed us of that, doing incredibly damage to the civilization he called his Empire.

Vitiate destroyed Ziost but now Empress Ecyntha was rebuilding it, nevertheless, the tremendous loss would have repercussions for decades to come, however, my purpose in this Tomb was to pass my next trial, not to mourn, thus, when the speeder dropped me off on the roof of the Tomb next to a massive staircase leading inside the Tomb, I ignited my Sith Warblade and got straight to work, climbing down into the Tomb and passion legions of terrified slaves. Twi'leks, Zabraks, Rattataki, Togruta, and other alien species were set to work in this Tomb and as I passed them, they shivered and tensed up as if I were already a Dark Lord of the Sith, this pleased me, I liked seeing my inferiors squirm. Slavery was still commonplace throughout The Sith Empire and aliens were enslaved at exponentially higher rates than humans whilst Sith Purebloods, as a rule, were never slaves, our species was naturally Force Sensitive after all and all Force Sensitives were to become Sith or die trying, now, aliens were getting better conditions and were growing increasingly common amongst Sith and Imperials, but this is a rather recent phenomenon born more out of attrition of humans and Sith during the early phases of the war between the Sith and the Republic than out of any actual sympathy for the plight of aliens within The Sith Empire. Proving their usefulness has, however, earned them the respect of many prominent Sith Lords, including Empress Ecyntha herself, thus, I suspect that conditions will continue to improve for them, but I don't think that slavery will ever end in this Galaxy, it is simply too common and too profitable, besides, those who are actual strong enough to rebel against their conditions are elevated out of those conditions.

I passed through the legions of slaves and the red armored Korriban guards controlling them before proceeding deeper into the Tomb, areas which had been excavated yet were not yet furnished, hallways of metal and brick gave way to structured caves which soon gave way to a titanic square cavern and, within that cavern, I saw the beast I would have to slay. The Monolith truly was like a rancor made of rock, the towering beast had monolithic slabs of rock rising up from its spine and a horrible glowing purple mouth, and finally a pair of gigantic, deadly claws. A lesser Sith would have been scared of this beast, a lesser Sith would have considered turning back and trying to escape Korriban, a lesser Sith would have done anything other than fighting this beast, but I am destined for greatness, I faced down a Dark Councilor as a mere acolyte and lived to tell the tale, even my greatest failure is a victory in a way, I have nothing to fear from a deranged animal, not even a beast created by the Dark Side itself like this Monolith stands a chance against me.

I climbed down from the cliff at the entrance and entered the beast's sanctuary, I heard the low growling in its throat as it noticed me, I watched as the beast focused on me, I listened as it almost seemed to laugh, the beast thought it was going to have an easy meal, I would prove it wrong. The beast opened its glowing purple mouth with a terrible roar, I felt a piercing pain in my ears but I pushed through it - a mere Imperial would be deaf for the rest of their lives, but I was better than that, I could withstand this beast's theatrics and I had plenty of my own to retaliate with. I used the Force to retaliate with my own roar, using my power to amplify my voice so much that the whole cavern shook, boulders fell from the ceiling, and the beast itself recoiled, however, it was not going to be stopped that easily, the beast recovered quickly before charging at me. I held my Sith Warblade in my left hand with deadly intent as I yelled off a war cry before charging at the beast as well, the beast was a titan compared to me, but that does not mean that it is stronger, I will not be beat by a wild animal.

The beast tried to claw at me but I slid to the ground and tried to slice its hand open with my Sith Warblade but the beast had tough skin, on its hands, but I would not be deterred that easily. I twisted up to my feet with impossible speed and stabbed for its stomach, counting on the beast having a soft underbelly and, just as I had expected, my Warblade pierced its skin and it roared in pain - capitalizing on my advantage, I began slicing its stomach open with my weapon, if I could put the Monolith in enough pain to incapacitate it, then I could turn murdering this beast from a challenging duel into an effortless slaughter - however, I only made it adopted two feet before the beast kicked at me with its stubby feet, sending me flying backwards into the rough stone ground behind me. I felt my robes tear and my skin scrape away against the hard rock, I hissed in pain. I got to my feet as I tried replicating the power of Darth Sion's holocron once again, repairing the damage on my back and easing the pain, however, it was a slow process and the the Monolith was not going to wait around for me to heal, I needed to slow it down, focus on healing, and then attack it.

I rose my empty right hand and used the Force to pull the beasts guts out of the two foot wide wound I created in its stomach, it reeled with pain but kept charging, however, I wasn't done yet - I pulled the beasts guts out so far and set them in front of its own foot. I watched with savage curiosity as the beast stepped on its own guts and in the process began pulling its own innards out. Blood and guts were gushing out of the now much larger wound as the beast fell over - a foolish acolyte would think that it was already defeated if not outright dead, but I knew the truth, as gruesome as this sight was, the Monolith was still alive and within moments it would be on its feet again, its bestial mind unknowingly using the Force to repair its wounds - at this point likely by severing the guts outside of it, sealing the wound, and building new ones, a lengthy and tiresome procedure that could serve to my advantage should this fight drag on, but I do not intend to allow it to drag on for that long.

I used the Force to repair the damage on my own back and tied the remains of my robes together as securely as I could - armor is a far better attire for warfare, I cannot wait until I earn a proper set of it, mere black and red Academy robes are beneath me - and I got on top of the beast, my intention was clear, I was going for the brain. The monolith realized this and rose to its feet in a rush, I almost fell but I secured myself on one of the smaller rocks hanging of its back and managed to pierce its hide with my Warblade just enough to use it as a climbing pick, if not enough to actually hurt the damned thing. The mindless Sithspawn began tearing up its own shoulders as it attempted to claw me off its back, that only drove me further - the stench of blood and deaf awoke the primordial warrior within me, for thousands of generations my ancestors have served the Sith, perhaps my ancestors even created Sithspawn like this one, I will not let a Monolith throw me around like a gnat, I will show it that Sith reign supreme over all creatures, sentient or not, and that we are the true masters of life and death. I climbed onto the fat flat top of its head and steadied myself on the massive pillar of rock protruding from the top of the beasts spine before plunging downwards with my Sith Warblade.

Its hide resisted at first but I pushed harder on the blade, putting my weight on it, and, sure enough, the deadly weapon began sliding into the beast, first past tough skin, then past a layer of muscle, but as I pierced the muscle the beast's blood was practically acting as a lubricant, so I made the final push through blood, muscle, and bone until I finally reached the soft, squishy tissue of the brain. The massive roaring beast died not with a great roar or a fearsome growl, but with a pathetic whimper, a pitiful sound that was drowned out by the graceless thud its body made as it hit the ground. I watched as the beast made of the Force disintegrated back into Dark Side energy, leaving behind only a miniature pillar of rock modelling the one it had on its back - I suppose that this will serve as proof of my slaughter. The Monolith was defeated and I had completed my trial in The Tomb of Ziost and, thanks to the secrets of Darth Sion's Tomb, I managed to do all of that without a scratch left on me, my back restored to surprisingly smooth red skin contrasting the sharp facial features and protruding bones that distinguish Sith amongst the variety of red skin aliens and near-humans littering the Galaxy - red skin alone is not a mark of power within The Sith Empire, a pale, pink Sith Pureblood while always been intrinsically superior to the deepest crimson skinned Twi'leks within the galaxy, for the red skin is not what matters, what matters is what it represents - an unbroken lineage to the Dark Lords of Sith, a bloodline that can be traced back to the very first people of Korriban who rose up from the caves that now serve as the backbone of Tombs and arrived on the harsh surface above, welcomed to a world that would test them, mold them into warriors, and turn a species from a backwater desert world into the greatest civilization the Galaxy has ever seen - my civilization.

I passed the same legions of slaves on my way out of the Tomb, practically glowing with power and victory and daring any one of them to sneer at my torn robes or glance at the now exposed skin running from the base of my hood to the small of my back, however, none of them dared to, they all heard two roars shake the very Tomb they were constructing, one the sound of a Monolith and the other the sound of a glorious Sith Warrior, now only the Warrior lives. Slaves are not a stupid lot, they may lack the traditional education that me and my peers received on Dromund Kaas and other prominent Sith worlds, but they make up for that deficit with a certain amount of hard-earned practical knowledge and survival skills that are necessary to last long in the slave pens of The Sith Empire, they know power dynamics better than most and, right now, they can tell that I could slaughter them without even breaking a sweat...they were right of course, I could, but I won't, practical deference is a skill most-necessary amongst Imperials, it really would save many of their lives, perhaps these guards should learn a thing or two from the slaves they're here too watch. Perhaps the human mind can pick up on such clear intentions, perhaps these guards had just enough Force Sensitivity to unconsciously pick up on my evil intentions, or perhaps they did know a certain amount of deference for the Sith after all, because as I passed the next set of red armored guards, I felt the delicious presence of complete and utter terror - these guards feared me and, soon enough, the entire Sith Empire and Galactic Republic will fear me, the whole damn galaxy shall fear me - it is the destiny of a Sith, it is my destiny!

I left the construction site of the Tomb and boarded my speeder, riding back to the Academy wishing I had a way to replace my torn and tattered robes before meeting with Overseer Uzalso - or worse, encountering another Dark Councilor, powerful warriors do not walk around in torn robes, they proudly wear great suits of armor that can brunt the blasts of starship turbolasers without much more than a scratch - some would say that it is cowardly to hide behind a suit of armor...those people tend to wear armor in battle themselves. I may have the Force but I also commit myself to far greater fights than even the bravest of Imperial troopers, thus, I'd be stupid not to wear armor - wearing armor allows me to continue to serve The Sith Empire and crush our enemies, suicidal warriors are only useful once, survivalist warriors are infinitely more useful for infinitely longer periods of time. In any case, I arrived in The Sith Academy with nothing but a Sith Warblade, the rock pillar I got from the Monolith, and a torn set of Acolyte's robes, but pathetic appearances or not, I still walked to the elevator with the same confidence I mustered before, in fact, it was bolstered by the fact I had beaten a Monolith in my last Trial - Monoliths, Rancors, Terentateks, the largest, most dangerous being in the whole galaxy, but I've already beaten one of them and I'm sure my adventures will give me the chance to crush more - something I'll relish in.

I managed to get to the elevator without incident and rode down to the second floor without incident, I made my way through a mixture of confused, alarmed, and impressed acolytes before finally reaching Overseer Uzalso's office, finding that I was alone with the Overseer once again, the powerful young woman was prepared to set me up with the next step in my path to becoming Sith, a path I was sure that I was already going above and beyond with, I was a generational talent, my contemporaries were ordinary would-be Sith who could do great in other classes but have to be up against me - I'm sure that Gerona would make a mighty warrior, an intolerable warrior, but a mighty one nonetheless, however, she is unlucky enough to be against me and I am not the type of person to allow her theoretical strength to stand in my way - if and when the time comes, I will not hesitate to murder Gerona, even if I had to do it over Lord Lalvinathy's boots, nothing will stand in my way of becoming Sith, not the trials, not the Dark Council, and certainly not Gerona.

"I assume the Monolith is dead?" Overseer Uzalso asked, a lesser Sith would've fallen for her relaxed posture and her seemingly passive hands, however, I knew better than that, I knew that she could summon that deadly double-bladed lightsaber to her hand, ignite it, and swing a fatal attack faster that I could even reach for my Sith Warblade - Uzalso knew that I was almost certain to succeed and like most Sith she was pleased to find a Pureblood with so much potential, but my species was not enough to spare me from failure and the consequences - meaning that, I was either going to present her with the miniature war trophy from the Monolith or she was going to execute - fortunately for me, I was no failure. My robes may be torn to pieces, there may be a trail of scraped off blood and skin left in the Tomb from where I slid across the ground, but next to it lies a dead Monolith - I levitated the little pillar up in front of Overseer Uzalso and she snatched it with the Force, putting it down on her desk - she did not need to inspect it, she knew it was legitimate - the Force told her all that she needs to know.

"Of course," I replied, Overseer Uzalso was silent for a moment, circling me, I did not dare move a muscle - I did not twitch, I did not show fear, and I kept my breath perfectly even, she could kill me, I knew she could, but I was not afraid, I did everything she asked of me and I did it perfectly, in fact, the torn robes even showcase that I don't have a scratch on me. Uzalso was evidently unsatisfied, she wanted a reaction out of me and a split second later I felt her ice cold gloves against my bare back, I cursed at my body as it involuntarily shivered, my own body had failed me.

"It seems that you have outgrown your acolyte's robes." Uzalso chuckled "Lord Lalvinathy and I suspected this would happen, after all, your trials are by far the most intensive, the most important...we had prepared something for you, something that shall serve you well in your final trials. Here, have this on by tomorrow morning and report to my office promptly, we are in the final stretch of our trials Tsyllos, Lalvinathy and I fully expect to see you become Sith - do not prove us wrong, we will not be happy if we placed our bets on an unworthy candidate."

Overseer Uzalso pulled a set of folded lightweight armor to her with the Force from some unknown hiding place in the room and dropped it in front of me. I gathered the impressive red and black bundle in my hands...this was not proper Sith armor, not by any means, but this was well beyond mere Academy robes, this was exactly the kind of armor that a training Sith Juggernaut deserves. I made my way out of Overseer Uzalso's office as soon as she permitted me and I hurried to the female acolytes' quarters within The Sith Academy, slipping into the room as I was slipping out of my robes.

The base element was a black bodysuit of tight yet mobile fabric, almost impossible to cut through - this would all be covered up by the upper layers. Over my legs was a set of black greaves that came over my legs and I slotted there into a pair of relatively heavy armored black boots with red trim. Over my torso sat a hooded red cloak that extended to about my calves. The final layer was a black chestplate, black and red gloves, and a matching belt. This was far from a final solution, but this was already a fantastic improvement, finally I felt like a true Sith Juggernaut, all I was missing was a lightsaber, then the galaxy was my oyster, but for now, I would settle for getting through my trials. The fact that I was being given a sent of armor suggested that my trials were only going to ramp up starting tomorrow and I suspected that Gerona was going to get a set of armor too - I was always meant to be the apprentice, the others were merely running errands for Lord Lalvinathy, however, Gerona had a special role, her role was to be the challenger.

Uzalso was building up Gerona just like she was building me up, the cyborg was to be my ultimate challenger, the final obstacle that I had to overcome in my path to becoming Sith, I was certain that my final Trial would boil down to confrontation between Gerona and I in the Tombs - now Overseer Uzalso couldn't admit that because The Sith Academy had rules against acolytes killing each other, rules that have only become stricter under Empress Ecyntha who wanted to see acolytes earn their place as Sith by completing all their Trials rather than by simply being the last acolyte standing, however, that was not a particularly popular role and many, many Lords and Overseers disregarded it, evidently Uzalso and Lalvinathy were among those. I will slaughter Gerona in the Tombs if that is what I must do, Overseer Uzalso was right, she and Lalvinathy had bet on me and I was not going to let the two of them be wrong - these two women are the ones allowing me to realize my dreams of becoming Sith, I will not let them down, especially not for some arrogant cyborg with no respect for our history or our civilization, she is not Sith and she will never be Sith, I will ensure that as I beat her until nothing is left but splattered brain matter and crushed cybernetics. I learned the secrets of Darth Sion's holocron, I encountered a Dark Councilor and lived to tell the tale, I faced my fears in The Tomb of Ludo Kressh and left with my mind intact, I slaughtered the Monolith, and I will murder Gerona. I now wore the armor of a Sith Juggernaut and I was eager to prove I deserved to wear it, thus, once I was done trying on my armor, I climbed into bed and made sure I was fully rested, today was a big day but tomorrow would be infinitely more important.

* * *

Alright so this chapter is a bit shorter than the last two and I think it's the shortest chapter I've written since the beginning of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles over on fictionpress - by the way, if you happen to be a fan of that story, it's not abandoned, I will eventually either continue ASC as it is or I will incorporate my ideas into some other kind of Medieval England vs. France story, I will eventually complete that story or a spiritual successor to it - but my goal with this story was to make shorter, perhaps more palatable chapters. If you guys would like longer chapters, let me know, if you guys are happy with the current length, let me know, if you guys think I should go with even shorter chapters, let me know, I'm open to trying things with this story.

My other story, The Legacy of The Romans will stick with long chapters regardless and so will any potential sequels, I think the longer length works well for them and I'm happy with like a 7-8 thousand words for most chapters on that particular story and I planned those stories out with longer chapters in mind, here I admittedly had some trouble getting to five thousand words so if you felt like the end was a bit slower than the beginning, I do apologize, that is completely my fault, I am aware of it, and I will try and do better in the future, I just happened to like where the chapter was at like 3,500 words and didn't want to rewrite or add to what I already wrote, meanwhile, I didn't want to start on the other chapters because then I'm just pushing the problem down the line. Sorry. I will do better.


	4. The Tomb of the Empire's Wrath

Alright so this is gonna be a bigger chapter and probably one of the most important ones in the whole Korriban prologue. Tsyllos is finally gonna earn an ally here. Oh by the way, I hope all my fellow Americans had a great thanksgiving!

The Armored Berserkers.

Prologue.

The Trials of The Sith.

Chapter IV.

The Tomb of the Empire's Wrath.

* * *

The next morning I marched into Overseer Uzalso's office in my red cloak and my obsidian armor - it was comfortable to move in, relatively lightweight considering what it was, and provided actual protection unlike mere Academy robes - I felt much more powerful, I finally felt like a Sith. I knelt in front of Overseer Uzalso feeling like she was a proper Sith Master and I was her apprentice - I felt certain that I would have the very same position with Lord Lalvinathy soon enough - however, I also knew that Ubaya and especially Gerona were going to make this as difficult as possible. The dark-skinned human and the pale Cyborg were dressed in similar suits of armor and armed with the same deadly Sith Warblade I had - meanwhile, neither Uvera the Twi'Lek or that mute acolyte were anywhere to be seen. Uzalso sent Ubaya off on her trial and I suspected that she would once again send Gerona off first and leave me for last, however, it seems that Uzalso knew I had gotten used to the routine and decided to keep me on my toes - complacency means death all too often among Sith, it is best to annihilate that habit immediately. I'm sure that Uzalso has seen more than a few promising acolytes who fought they didn't need to improve to pass their trials and I'm equally sure that none of those arrogant would-be Sith managed to actually survive through their trials.

"Tsyllos, your trials have taken you to some of the newer Tombs on Korriban, but now, you will go to the newest construction on the planet. It seems that Lord Jaesa has finally convinced her Master that being a Sith is dangerous, regardless of the apprentice's intentions, the Wrath has decided to go about building a grand tomb for herself should she fall in battle." Uzalso informed me, evidently knowing Lord Jaesa and her mysterious Master - the woman who created a tie against my favor in my vision at The Tomb of Ludo Kressh - personally, I raised an eyebrow in a quizzical expression but did not dare speak the question, it was not yet my place to stand up before an Overseer, especially since Uzalso is an Overseer who actually commands respect, nevertheless, Uzalso picked up on it "Ah, amused are you? Well there is purpose to this anecdote. Lord Jaesa cares for her Master, as does General Quinn, as does Colonel Pierce, and so on. The Empire's Wrath created a powerbase of trusted allies and apprentices around herself, an individual is strong, but, as Empress Ecyntha has taught us, a group is stronger. Learn how to form a powerbase in The Tomb of the Empire's Wrath and return with our lesson. Lord Lalvinathy and I are both very intrigued to see how you interpret this trial and the results - an apprentice that thinks for herself is a very resourceful weapon."

A resourceful weapon indeed, but a dangerous threat as well. Lord Lalvinathy seems to be of the older generation of Sith Masters, those who would rather cackle and plot in the shadows while their apprentices do the dirty work than those like the Empire's Wrath and Darth Imperius, those who prove their authority in combat just like the legendary Sith who earned their place in The Valley of The Dark Lords - Ajunta Pall, Tulak Horde, Marka Ragnos, and Naga Sadow - I want to be like the latter, the former is a relic of the past. A relic which will end up murdered by their apprentice sooner rather than later. Nevertheless, I would play the role of the resourceful weapon for now, so I got up from my kneeling position and took the familiar route from Overseer Uzalso's office up to the hanger, meanwhile, she gave Gerona her trial. My assumption is that Gerona is going to be sent on a trial that will prepare her for fighting me - its clear that Uzalso wants to kill off Ubaya with this trial and set up Gerona for a final confrontation with me in her final trial. I already knew that I was practically confirmed as Lalvinathy's apprentice, the fact that my trial was already teaching me about forming a powerbase was proof of that. My trials were to prepare me for being Sith, their trials were to provide Lalvinathy and I with knowledge, as well as testing me, proving that I'm just as good as Uzalso and Lalvinathy hope I am.

I rode the speeder once again and it took me to another construction site much like The Tomb of Ziost, however, this one was grander somehow and, rather than slaves, it was being built by elaborate construction droids. The Tomb of Ziost was being built by standard slave labor just like so many other things across The Sith Empire, but the Empire's Wrath apparently demanded more, she wanted a perfectly precision crafted Tomb. The Empire's Wrath was a powerful warrior and had a kill count higher than the population of some Star Systems, but she was not a brute, in fact, she was a rather mysterious and thoughtful creature, the fact that she was covered up with the mask only made it more complicated. Someone so powerful who seemed so straightforward, but wasn't. The Wrath did not slaughter her way to converting Lord Jaesa from Jedi to Sith, she systematically crushed everything holding her to the Jedi and had Jaesa kill her Master herself, the Wrath was given a Twi'Lek slave after leaving Korriban but freed her and then continued to travel with her as equals, and the Wrath forged excellent relations with the Imperial Military rather than using them as generic cannon fodder like most Sith, her long time companions in the form of Colonel Pierce and General Malavai Quinn were proof of that. The Empire's Wrath was a fascinating creature, but I saw her in my vision, she voted against me - her fellow Sith Warrior, her fellow Sith Pureblood - that vision, regardless of how true it was, would always taint my perception of her.

Perhaps I was looking too much into it, however, I know that the Force gives messages for a reason, this has to be something important - now, that didn't mean that it would actually happen. The Tomb of Ludo Kressh was designed to test my fears, so perhaps my fear is being rejected by the Dark Council and that is how the Tomb will test me, perhaps the vision is more of a symbolic representation of how the Dark Council will perceive me rather than an actual event, or perhaps it will play out word for word exactly how it did during the vision. Force visions were incredibly meaningful but visions of the future are fickle things, I know what can happen, but I don't know if knowing that will allow me to change the future or not. Visions of the Dark Side, visions of fear, are especially fickle, the Dark Side is a constant test of strength, a constant test of strength that will use both terrible lies and crippling truths to accomplish its goals, I had no way of truly knowing if that vision was a terrible lie or a crippling truth, however, as I entered The Tomb of the Empire's Wrath, I knew I had to be prepared for either possibility.

I climbed down the steps and reached the first antechamber in the Tomb, finding that another acolyte had already managed to slice the droids apart - as with most things in The Sith Empire, the specialized construction droids that the Wrath commissioned were more than capable of killing - however, being cut to pieces didn't seem to make much difference. Droid limbs grasped at my boots and tried to claw at my greaves, legs tried to kick at me, and decapitated droid heads stared at me with a vicious mechanical bloodlust. Fortunately, these hard to kill droids weren't able to accomplish much because they were cut up fragments and their weapons were trashed too, they were more of a grievance than anything, nevertheless, I sliced them to pieces with my Sith Warblade. The droids were hard to kill, their CPU wasn't where their brain was - the problem with droid builders is that they're so unimaginative, they configure droids like they were people and thus share many of the same weaknesses, however, the Empire's Wrath was better than that and she commissioned her droids with hidden CPUs, perhaps even multiple units, nevertheless, by the time I was done with them, these construction droids were literally incapable of fighting.

I continued deeper into the Tomb, facing off against multiple cut apart droids - whoever the acolyte that came through here first must have been a rapid fighter because these droids were just cut up enough to not be able to catch up with a mobile opponent - the fighter didn't care about killing the droids, just making sure they were no longer an issue. I suspected this was the work of a Sith Marauder, only Marauders were that clumsy - now, I certainly respected those Warriors, they were graceful, rapid, and deadly, but in being so graceful and so rapid, they were not quite thorough enough - meanwhile, us Juggernauts were slower but more brutal, we crushed our opponents, choked them to death if necessary, we did not make mistakes. We murdered each and every enemy we made across, sure the Marauders were faster, but we had the armor and the skill to stay in the fight for long enough to be thorough. A skill I demonstrated as I used my now gloved hands to tears a droid's metal neck in two against the base of a holoprojector. In a happy accident, my slaughter happened to activate the holoprojector.

"Vette, the Twi'Lek smuggled turned slave turned Sith retainer. The great Empire's Wrath found her when she was merely an acolyte and received Vette as a slave, however, this enslavement was short lived as the Wrath freed Vette. The two would journey to Dromund Kaas, Balmorra, Nar Shaddaa and other worlds as she became the Wrath's primary companion prior to her taking Jaesa on as an apprentice. Vette provided the Wrath with underworld connections, a fierce practical intelligence of the unsavory elements of the galaxy, and a shocking natural accuracy with twin blaster pistols. Even the seemingly weakest and most unassuming elements of the Galaxy may become incredibly useful companions." An electronic voice explained while projecting the image of a female Twi'Lek, I was fairly familiar the Empire's Wrath's retinue and I knew about Vette, but this Tomb was telling me all about wow the Wrath formed her powerbase and, in turn, it was guiding me on how I could go and form my very own powerbase. I was to use these lessons to find my own Vette, my own General Quinn, my own Lord Jaesa, and so on, I would take these lessons to heart and, vision or not, one day, I would enter the Dark Council Chamber of The Sith Academy in a great set of Sith armor flanked by an impressive retinue of great warriors, powerful allies, and incredibly talented apprentices.

"General Malavai Quinn of The Imperial Army was merely a Captain on backwater Balmorra when Darth Baras commanded him to guide the Wrath through her mission on the planet. Quinn would provide her with a skilled pilot and excellent knowledge of the Imperial military inside and out, and, almost paradoxically, when Quinn betrayed the Wrath, he provided her with an opportunity for showing the entire Sith Empire the consequences of betraying her. Quinn would rise to the rank of General over the years and eventually, the Wrath trusted him enough to place him in strategic command of her armies." The next holoprojecter showed General Quinn and told his story, letting me know about the perks of having allies within the Imperial Military. The vast majority of Sith Lords see our Imperial underlings as expendable and, in many cases, they are, however, there is nothing antithetical about being a Sith and recognizing talented Imperials. I will forge ties with the Imperial Military and I will find those who are particularly talented, particularly useful, and I will use them within my very own retinue.

"Colonel Pierce was an experienced soldier operating far below his station on the ruins of Taris when the Wrath came across him, seeing this injustice, the Wrath would welcome Pierce into her retinue, giving the mighty warrior an adventure worth undertaking. Colonel Pierce has becoming the field commander of the Wrath's forces and often makes the tactical decisions that make Quinn's strategies a reality. The two may not like each other on a personal level, but they overlook that to serve the Wrath and, in doing so, they provide her armies with both Imperial Academy professionalism and boots-on-the-ground practical knowledge. This synergy of retainers working together is crucial for a Sith retinue - only by combining their talents can those without Force Sensitivity make a difference in a battle between powerful Force Users - powerful Force Users which the Wrath, like so many other Sith, encounters on a regular basis." Force Sensitivity often made the difference between the strong and the weak, but even the weak could make a difference if they had the minds and the wisdom to apply what skills they had. An individual without the Force will almost never stand against a Jedi and especially not a Sith, but a group of individuals who mold the situation to their advantages - familiar terrain, the element of surprise, overwhelming firepower, effective cover, and varied escape routes - can not only survive in battle against Force Users, but even slay them. General Quinn does this on a grand scale and Pierce is on a smaller scale actually executing this. This brilliant collaboration can bring down Force Users, especially if the Wrath herself is present tearing through the ranks of Jedi and their Republic cannon fodder. I could be like Lord Wrath one day, deadly, talented, and fiercely intelligent on my own but having all of my abilities amplified by having an elite retinue on my side.

"Broonmark, a barbarian warrior of the Talz species. He is a strong and hulking monster who battled against Wrath on Hoth and lived to tell the tale, this impressed the Wrath and, when they both finished their respective quests on Hoth, she brought the beast into her retinue. Broonmark is a hunter greater than all others and is loyal to a fault. His species may be undesirable and foreign to the Sith, but Broonmark is an exception, his untamed bloodlust, his hatred of betrayers, and his uncompromising devotion to slaughter demonstrate a quintessential understanding of the Sith way of life, even if Broonmark developed this lifestyle independently of the Sith." The narration for Broonmark made one thing clear, companions can be found in the unlikeliest of places - most Sith would never have imagined themselves travelling with a Talz of all creatures, but the Empire's Wrath does, and, in doing so, she has found herself a very unique and very capable follower. Broonmark, Colonel Pierce, General Quinn, and Vette all provided interesting insights into building a powerbase and the benefits of doing so, however, these four holoprojectors and their lessons paled in comparison to the largest holoprojector in this chamber, this one I had to imagine would be about Lord Jaesa herself. I would imagine this would provide me the greatest insight into the ways of building a Sith powerbase and of the Empire's Wrath herself.

"The Dark Side of the Force has been used time and time again to mask its own presence, allowing Sith Assassins to catch Jedi by surprise and slaughter them, but the Force is not a static being and, eventually, the Light Side responded. A young Jedi Padawan named Jaesa Willsaam was found to possess a talent where she could instantly decipher any beings true nature, a weapon that would have threatened everything the Sith had built in the war and in the centuries leading up to it. The Wrath intercepted this threat and used compassion, sparing Jaesa's masters and family - in doing so, rather than destroying individuals, she destroyed Jaesa's faith in the Jedi, she showed that the Jedi were wrong about the Sith, leading to the young human wondering what else the Jedi were wrong about. Jaesa would truly become Sith when the Wrath had her execute her own former Master rather than the Wrath killing him herself. Jaesa's nature in between the Sith and the Jedi proved most beneficial to Lord Wrath, she was as deadly as a Sith but as loyal as a Jedi, thus, to this very day, now a Sith Lord in her own right, Jaesa still serves the Wrath as her apprentice, her trusted ally, and as her lover." Jaesa was the cornerstone of the Wrath's retinue and thus her holoprojector was special and it was saved for last - she may not have been the first companion, but she is clearly the most important one.

I knew about Lord Wrath's retainers, but there was plenty more to learn, thus, I proceeded deeper into the Tomb. Out of a combination of curiosity and convenience, I followed the trail of chopped apart droids. This Marauder was clearly deadly but she also never made her way out of the Tomb, having to pass through the projection room to reach the exit. The Marauder may have died, but I didn't think that it was likely - her ferocious combat made it clear that she was strong, sloppy, but strong nonetheless, to die in the Tombs suggested a weakness that simply was not reflected in this trail of dismembered droid limbs. Something was drawing me towards the Marauder that caused all this, I didn't know what I would do when I found them, but it didn't feel right to leave the Tomb without seeing him or her, regardless of whether or not the Tomb has anymore lessons to teach me about Lord Wrath or her retainers - lessons which would be appreciated, anything to help me understand why she voted against me in that damned vision from The Tomb of Ludo Kressh.

* * *

I reached one of the lowest chambers inside the Tomb, a massive opening with a towering statue of the Wrath herself on the other side, a holoprojector at its base. This room had exactly what I was looking for, but that wasn't the only thing in this room. A massive construction droid sat in the center on the room, seemingly deactivate, however, my eyes were sharp enough to catch the slowly rotating scanner, just waiting to catch a single movement to activate itself. The other interesting thing was that I finally ran into that Marauder. A red skinned Togruta with twin Sith Warblades stood perfectly still - not even breathing - as the scanner came over her and, as soon as it passed her, she quietly but rapidly approached it. Perhaps she wasn't as sloppy as her trail of cut apart yet still functional droids would suggest. She would be able to kill this droid without even having to fight it. Now, I personally would have fought the droid myself, if I wanted to kill unsuspecting targets, I would have trained to become a Sith Assassin, Warriors - Juggernauts and Marauders alike - do not need to be use stealth against a mere droid, we can annihilate them all on our own. I had my own objections, but I was not going to interfere, the Togruta was graceful and had perfect timing as she approached the droid - her species were omnivores, hunters, in ancient times, while she may not have had to hunt rodents for food, the memory of her ancestors doing that flows through her veins, just like the glory and the power of the ancient Sith flows through mine - she was fascinating to watch, even if I didn't agree with her methods.

There was just one fatal flaw in her plan - from the corner of my eye, all too late, I caught a severed droid arm that had clawed its way into the room and made a motion just as the droid's scanner passed over it. I lashed out and crushed the arm with the Force but that moment of movement was all it needed, the droid activated, rose to its feet, and folded out its guns. The Togruta had almost been on top of it and she had to leap backwards to avoid being instantly vaporized. The droid had noticed me too and it was between me and the holoprojector I needed to get to, thus, I was in this fight too. A Sith Pureblood Juggernaut and a Togruta Marauder up against a deadly construction droid commissioned by a Dark Council member with ties to the monster who was our former Emperor. This was about as glorious a fight as could ever occur that involved a droid, a droid we would slay. Lubricant and oil were a poor substitute for blood, but I would make sure that this droid drowns in it nonetheless.

"Do you have a plan?" the Togruta asked, an Imperial accent leaving her lips - most aliens within The Sith Empire was a slave, but her Imperial accent marked her as someone with an established Sith background - obviously not one as prestigious as mine, but a Sith background nonetheless. I was eager to learn more about this acolyte, sloppiness aside she has potential and I would not mind having a talented Sith Marauder as an ally. After all, isn't the whole lesson of this Tomb to be opportunistic and form a circle of allies and companions?

"I will take whatever that droid can hit at me while you catch it off guard." I ordered and she gave a short nod, words were unnecessary, now it was time to get down to work. The droid unleashed its minigun at me firing countless laser bolts at me, I outright dodged the first few, using the Force to amplify my senses and my speed, the next I caught with my Sith Warblade, halting it, but more kept coming. I could concentrate and block one laser bolt but that was ineffective against fully automatic fire, the droid would just hit me with twenty more, but that didn't mean that the Force was useless. I lashed out and used the Force to throw the droid's arm into its head, it never stopped firing and reduced its own mechanical skull to molten metal. I released the cannon once he stopped firing but the droid reminded me very rudely that its head was nothing more than a head, it did not include the droid's hidden CPU that would actually kill it. The droid used the cannon on its opposite arm to lob a grenade at me. I went off into a sprint, getting out of its blast radius as fast as my armored legs would allow, meanwhile, the Togruta cut its little spider-y droid legs out from under it, sending its next shot off wide to the wall behind me.

The droid began spinning up its minigun once again and activated a jet pack on its back, the fire sending the Togruta recoiling back to avoid getting scorched, only for the droid to send her flying backwards by swinging its cannon into her stomach. She was alive, she was conscious, and she was trying to get back up, but it would take her awhile; I was on my own until then. I let my armor take the minigun bolts as I ran at the beast, my armor held strong against the laser bolts as I reached it, leaping onto the cannon itself - my weight on the cannon set it to the ground and the droid had no defense as I severed the whole arm off its body - taking care to cut the minigun itself in half since I'm sure that it can function on its own just like all those severed droid arms in the Tomb. The droid was about to fire its cannon at point blank range, killing me and damaging itself when I used the Force to blow the arm and thus the shot wide before cutting the arm off as well, then I used the Force to throw the cannon into its own torso and firing it. The droids torso took the brunt of the grenade explosion, I merely felt the shockwave and some of the flying shrapnel, meanwhile, the droids remains got sent flying across the room.

I walked over the droid, now disarmed both figuratively and literally and stabbed its jet pack with my Warblade, denying it movement. The droid activated a flamethrower hidden in its torso but it missed me before I carved it out of him, revealing some critical wiring below - finally. I used the Force to rip the wires apart, pulling the droids internals out and smashing them, stomping on them, all the while the droid's mechanical voice whirred in protest, I'd imagine that was the droid version of a scream. I kept ripping and smashing until the sound finally stopped, the droid was as dead as it was going to be and, as the Togruta got to her feet, I could confirm that the two of us did survive - yet another opponent slayed in the Tombs, Gerona would be next.

"We survived!" she exclaimed in relief before her expression fell, I wasn't sure why, we won a great victory and crushed the droid, allowing me to get to Lord Wrath's holoprojector while she could get on with her trial, whatever it is. I raised a quizzical eyebrow, wondering why her expression fell, the Togruta did answer me "Thank you for your help acolyte, I couldn't have defeated that droid without you, but it doesn't matter, I was too late."

The Togruta pointed at two altars on either side of the statue of the Empire's Wrath, two altars which were clearly meant to hold some sort of grand relics, but now held nothing. Suddenly, it all made sense - this Togruta Marauder was rushing through the droids sloppily to get to the relics because her trial was in direct competition with another acolyte - presumably a Sith Assassin who cloaked with the Force and stole them from right out under our noses - she was trying to get past the droids, including this one, but, even with my help, it was too little, too late. She may have screwed up at the very end with her stealth thanks to that damned droid arm but, until then, she had fought like a warrior, slaughtering the droids. It is a shame that a talented warrior is overshadowed by a cowardly assassin - now, I can respect Sith Assassins as some of them fight as ferociously as Juggernauts or Marauders, but there are many which would rather hide than fight, that is an insult to the very foundation of Sith civilization. The Assassin could be halfway back to the Academy by now and, even if we did somehow catch up with them, we would have to confront them within the walls of The Sith Academy, where murder is punished severely - a policy which has only grown stricter after Empress Ecyntha came to power. The Togruta is no longer able to become Sith, she failed in her trails and her Overseer will no doubt execute her when she returns...but does she have to return to her Overseer? Perhaps instead, I could put these lessons to forming a powerbase to good use...I know she's strong, I know she's capable, and I know that she could serve me well as the first of my retainers, but I didn't know much else about her.

"Tell me, who exactly are you, acolyte?" I asked the red-skinned Togruta with red stripes on her white tendrils and twin horns and with matching white facial tattoos completely her two toned appearance. She wore a black upper robe with matching tights, simple black boots, and had two Sith Warblades on her back. The gear didn't seem all that impressive now, but before I got this red and black armored ensemble, the clothes I was wearing weren't any different. The robes or armor of a true Sith were significantly better than the rags worn by us mere acolytes. I will rise to be a great Sith and I will take this Togruta with me, not as a Sith apprentice - only an apprentice that completed her trials in Korriban successfully is worthy of being mine - but she can accompany me as a Dark Jedi. There is a distinction between Sith and Dark Jedi - a Dark Jedi is a Jedi that has fallen to the Dark Side, a Sith is a Dark Jedi that follows our religion, the Sith way of life that traces its roots all the way back to the Sith species of Korriban and Ziost and the Jedi exiles from Tython led by Ajunta Pall.

"My name is Knyella Syvone, I was born and raised on Taris, my parents were descendants of Republic settlers assimilated into Sith society once the Republic was pushed off world. Once they realized that I was Force-Sensitive, they were all too eager to give me up to the Academy, thinking that having a daughter become Sith would finally allow a Togruta family on Taris to become a real part of Sith society, maybe even move to Dromund Kaas. Well, it didn't exactly work out for either of us, they're still on Taris and I failed my trial...what's your story?"

"I am the zenith of a thousand generations of Sith warriors, my ancestors range from the first of the Sith to join Ajunta Pall on Korriban to those who followed Lord Vitiate on the exodus to Dromund Kaas, where we made our home. Now, I am here to become a Sith Juggernaut, to prove myself worth of the legendary blood coursing through my veins, however, this Tomb has taught me a valuable lesson. Allies and companions can make a legendary Sith outright unstoppable, with someone I can trust at my side, I would be confident enough to face the third coming of Vitiate himself - these allies and companions can be found anywhere, even where some Overseers may see weakness." I gave her my version of an invitation, she was going to accept, she would be a fool not to - her only options were to return to the Academy to be executed by her Overseer while a cowardly Sith Assassin sneers or to join me and get a second chance of glory - a second chance that most of these miserable acolytes couldn't even hope for.

"Why are you offering me this? You're a Pureblooded Sith from Dromund Kaas smashing through her trials already looking like a talented Juggernaut, what do you want with a mere alien who failed her trial?" Knyella was suspicious and I understood why, in fact, part of me felt that she deserved getting beat by the Assassin because she approached that droid with stealth like one of those Assassins rather than facing it head on like a Marauder should, but at the same time, I see potential in her - she was smart and perceptive enough to pick up on the droid's sensor, a good enough fighter to have gotten all the way to this chamber without a scratch, and we managed to work together once, meaning that we can become a proper combat duo going forward - she was a weakling right now, but she was not a perpetual weakling. With my help, perhaps she will one day be worthy of calling herself a Sith one day, but until then, she can be my Dark Jedi companion, I'm sure even she will agree that it is a better fate than death.

"I am offering this because I feel you are too useful to have killed - agree to accompany me as a Dark Jedi and I will ensure that you make it off Korriban alive. Red skin means a lot on Korriban." I promised without actually knowing if I could pull this off, sure, I was a Sith Pureblood and that meant that I had more leeway than a human acolyte and certainly more than an alien like Knyella. Ultimately, I would only be able to pull this off if Overseer Uzalso and Lord Lalvinathy gave me permission, but Syvone didn't know that, I would manage everything in the background. I would make this situation work for me. Building a powerbase this early on, a powerbase which included an aspiring young Marauder, was one that could go far once I completed my trials on Korriban.

"I suppose if I can't become Sith, being a Sith's retainer is the best I can hope for...especially seeing as the alternative is..." she trailed off, so many species around the galaxy have a fear of death, considering the whole subject taboo - the fact is that if Knyella died at my side carving through a Republic army on a great battlefield on Balmorra, she would die a warrior, a martyr, an inspiration for future acolytes, meanwhile, if she dies because she failed her trials on Korriban, all she will be is that, a failure; a stain on the floor of her Overseer's office. Death is not a taboo, it is an element of reality and like all real things, there are layers to death, ranging from the glorious and the heroic to the whimpering and pathetic. The cold hard truth of life is that there are two types of people: those who are strong and those who are weak. Knyella has two options, to definitely die a weakling or to join me and possibly die a great warrior, the option is clear - she is right, being a Sith's retainer is the best that she can hope for, after all, it's her only option if she wants to keep on living.

"So, we are companions then?" I asked, offering her my left hand, she took one last apprehensive glance before shaking it, she was my retainer now, a companion that she watch me become Sith and fight by my stand as we travel the galaxy. The cornerstone of my new powerbase - speaking of, with the droid and Knyella business out of the way, I finally turned to that last holoprojector. The chance to learn about Lord Wrath herself. I activated the holoprojector at the base of the statue before joining Knyella, the two of us watching in silent anticipation as a projection of the Dark Councilor who may have been covered from head to toe in armor and that mask yet somehow managed to remain instantly recognizable nonetheless.

"There are seven deadly sins accepted across the galaxy - gluttony, lust, greed, sloth, envy, pride, and wrath - Vitiate's pride had failed him, he thought himself invincible after imprisoning Revan and slaying the Exile, but his pride failed him, however, his Wrath never did, not even when Vitiate failed the Wrath. The Empire's Wrath was once an acolyte herself, brought to Korriban by Overseer Tremel to become the apprentice of the mighty Darth Baras, putting her through trials that would have crushed even mighty Sith Warriors, but to the Wrath, they were nothing, the Wrath crushed her trials, crushed her enemies, and even crushed Tremel himself. The Wrath thus became a weapon for Baras, but she was unsatisfied with merely being a part of someone else's scheme, thus, she grew her own powerbase and took Jaesa on as an apprentice rather than wiping her out as Baras had ordered, it was clear now that the Wrath was going to betray her master sooner rather than later, however, Baras struck first. The fat pathetic schemer failed, of course, and would find himself stabbed to death on the Dark Council chamber by the Wrath, but the Wrath merely traded one master for another as she became a direct subordinate to the Emperor himself, just as his first form was wiped out The chaos that culminated in the Emperor's return and betrayal over Ziost would see the Wrath become the Empire's Wrath, finally independent, serving the Empire as a whole rather than any individual. The Empire's Wrath would be given a seat on the Dark Council soon enough, but she is more important than any seat will do her credit for. The Wrath is our mightiest warrior and, when the time comes to battle the Republic, she will lead us." the holoprojector gave me the Wrath's story but it did not give me the answers I was looking for - I still had no idea why she voted against me in that vision in The Tomb of Ludo Kressh. I may not have gotten the answers I wanted, but I did get a valuable lesson about powerbases and I began forming one by taking Knyella with me - I failed in my personal quest, but I think I went above and beyond what Uzalso and Lalvinathy asked of me, tradition or not, I showed how to form a powerbase earlier than anyone else and earned a brutal Marauder as a companion because of it - the fact that she happened to be an attractive Togruta certainly did not hurt either.

Knyella Syvone was an attractive alien, there is no doubt about that, red skin was always a mark of beauty, even if in her case it was meaningless - red skin on an alien was not the same as red skin was to a Pureblood - nevertheless, she had the skills to back it up. I was attracted to women, I do not seek to carry on a bloodline, I seek to immortalize a legacy, something I feel that I can accomplish, especially with someone like Knyella at my side and occasionally in my bed as well. This certainly will be the best outcome for her and it certainly won't be bad for me either.

* * *

Okie dokie this chapter was a bit longer, hope you liked Knyella! We'll see them return to The Sith Academy next chapter and get to Tsyllos Zharne's final trial.

Ciao everybody!


	5. The Tomb of Exar Kun

So I've spent the weekend before posting this catching up on the Mandalorian, additionally, I started my watch through of the whole sage in chronological order starting with Phantom Menace while simultaneously starting Clone Wars, which is the least chronological order possible. Anyway, I've been on a Star Wars journey so lets continue it with chapter five of Armored Berserkers, bringing the prologue to a close with Tsyllos and Knyella returning to The Sith Academy.

I may put the story on hold for a little bit after the prologue, work a bit on another project, perhaps even another Star Wars project, and then come back to this - take a bit of a seasonal approach to my second story, as in, the Prologue will be "season one" of Berserkers and then, some time in 2020, I will pick up with act one which will be "season two." I'm still not certain though so if you have an argument against it, now is the time to give it, at the same time, if you have an argument for a seasonal approach, one: make it, two: propose what you would like to see. I have plenty of ideas for what I could write as my secondary story during the winter but I am always interesting in hearing what the fans want. There will be no change with The Legacy of The Romans during this "seasonal" experiment, not sure how big the cross section is of readers between those stories, but I thought I would mention it anyway. With all that theoretical business stuff out of the way, here we go with Berserkers chapter five! The last trial on Korriban!

The Armored Berserkers.

Prologue.

The Trials of The Sith.

Chapter V.

The Tomb of Exar Kun.

* * *

I marched into The Sith Academy with pride, my metal boots clanking menacingly against the floor as Knyella Syvone trailed behind me, the Togruta was slightly more timid, but only just - she was still a Warrior and she still commanded respect, but she knew two things: one: that she was not my equal, and two: that, now reduced to a mere Dark Jedi, her being in The Sith Academy was a rare privilege, not a right - she no longer belonged here. Knyella may not have belonged here, but I was a natural fit, I commanded respect and I got it - the red armored Dark Honor Guards bowed as Syvone and I passed - we could easily be mistaken for a Master and an apprentice, but, in reality, we are at roughly the same stage in our training, I am simply more powerful. The natural law dictates that those who are true Sith, Sith by blood, are naturally and permanently superior to any human and especially any alien, Knyella was a Marauder brimming with potential, but she does not stand a chance against a Sith Pureblood Marauder with the same amount of training. Humans, of course, like to claim that they are our equals and aliens often have the audacity to claim that all species are equal, but that is utter rubbish - the Sith are absolute.

Superior or not, I knew I was pressing my luck by arriving here with Knyella, she failed her trial and deserves to be dead, even if I do feel the winner of that trial didn't deserve to win it, however, I was also given considerable creative liberty in my trial of learning about powerbases - I am depending on that liberty of interpretation being the thing that holds my whole arrangement with Syvone together.

"Acolyte Zharne," Overseer Uzalso greeted, her voice thick with a dangerous politeness "You are not alone."

"Indeed I am not, Overseer, I am here with the cornerstone of my powerbase." I began, committing myself to this plan and hoping that I have another clout to keep it alive, knowing that I am disregarding many of the traditions that I claim to be the personification of. Overseer Uzalso barely raised an eyebrow but the gesture was enough, I knew what she wanted - she was demanding an explanation "I found acolyte Syvone in the Tomb, tearing construction droids to pieces in a race to a pair of relics left behind by the Empire's Wrath. She failed, having the relics stolen out from under her by a...crafty Sith Assassin. I knew that Knyella would never be Sith, for she had failed, however, I also knew that The Tomb of the Empire's Wrath had taught me to search for allies in the unlikeliest of places, therefore, I offered her the chance to at least become a Dark Jedi. She will not be an apprentice, she will not be a Master, she will merely be a weapon, and, like any weapon of mine, I will determine if and when she is unsheathed upon our enemies."

"No." Overseer Uzalso shot it down before moving to reply "Lord Lalvinathy was very clear in her specifications, she asked for one apprentice, a Sith Juggernaut, she did not ask for - "

"Silence, Overseer. I will decide what it is that I want and do not want." three heads whirled around to see Lord Lalvinathy herself entering the room, a scarred, cracked, and burned jaw emerging from the shadow left behind by the hood on top of her black and red robes. Lord Lalvinathy was a Sith Sorcerer and thus, a single neglected lightsaber hung from her hip. She was a human like Overseer Uzalso but her features showed the wear and tear of decades of Dark Side usage. Perhaps Uzalso was more powerful and therefore able to keep her appearance untouched by the Dark Side without effort, or perhaps Lord Lalvinathy had simply stopped caring about her appearance several lifetimes ago, preferring to immerse herself in the mysteries of the Dark Side rather than focusing on mere mortal considerations of attractiveness. I didn't know, but I did know that Lord Lalvinathy's image in the Force screamed of power "I am far too opportunistic to miss out on the chance of getting two apprentices for the price of one. I will allow this Tsyllos Zharne, but it is your responsibility to care for your alien pet. I am glad to reap the benefits of two apprentices but I shall not take on the burdens of it. I shall leave that to you...provided that you can complete your final trial, of course."

"I shall not fail, my Master." I promised, already addressing Lord Lalvinathy as Master, something that will not change anytime soon. I shall be her apprentice and I shall do it with Knyella Syvone at my side. I was well aware that I was going to be saddled with providing for Syvone, after all, if Lord Lalvinathy did, then perhaps her loyalties would shift to my Master rather than me - I will not allow that, I took Syvone on as a Dark Jedi companion because I seek to benefit my powerbase with her, I do not intend to merely fuel Lord Lalvinathy's powerbase. Sure we may both be nominally part of Lord Lalvinathy's, however, every Sith knows that the relationship between a Sith Master and a Sith apprentice is one of competition. I will take on this challenge and, speaking of challenges, I shall crush my way through my trials as well "What is my next trial?"

"Very well acolyte." Overseer Uzalso began, just a hint of anger in her otherwise measured voice "Your next trial will take you to The Tomb of Exar Kun. The Jedi fell to the Dark Side and declared himself a Sith, while his claims were false and only emerged as a result of us true Sith being in exile on Dromund Kaas, he was, indeed, a renowned lightsaber duelist. Therefore, when constructing an honorary Tomb for him, the Tomb was equipped with the most advanced lightsaber forge on Korriban. The Tomb is stocked with all the materials you need to make a lightsaber...or three as it may be. You will journey to The Tomb of Exar Kun and you will create your weapon, a weapon worthy of a Sith apprentice - but be warned, there are challenges that you shall face, challenges that shall struggle against, even with the help of your so-called Dark Jedi Marauder friend."

"Understood, Overseer." I bowed before Overseer Uzalso and then before Lord Lalvinathy before leaving with Knyella Syvone. We went up to the third floor and took a speeder over to The Tomb of Exar Kun, a Tomb that I know the mute acolyte and Gerona have both been to before, the former was apparently outright murdered within it, but I was stronger than the mute and, if Gerona could survive it, then I certainly can crush whatever challenges that Uzalso and Lalvinathy left behind in the Tomb for me. I had grown accustomed to silence during my speeder trips to the Tombs, mentally preparing myself for the journey, however, I was not alone anymore, with the red-skinned Togruta with her white facial tattoos and white and red striped tendrils leading up to horns sitting next to me. She was talkative, more so than I was anyway, however, I did not find the conversation entirely unpleasant.

"Why did you decide to become a Sith Juggernaut?" she eventually asked, it was a fair enough question to make, after all, we both began our basic training as Sith Warriors and, evidently, at some point we decided to take divergent paths. I became a Sith Juggernaut while she is a Sith Marauder. She was disciplined in rapid fighting, focused purely on the offensive, meanwhile, I was meant to take blows as well as I can dish them out. A Marauder is rapid and devastating like an airstrike, but bombers are fragile, a Juggernaut is like a tank, still deadly but also able to endure a battle.

"I chose to become a Juggernaut because I want to fight on the front lines of the war, I want to run into tank blasts and slice walkers down with my lightsaber. I can practically feel it when I imagine two Republic troopers firing assault cannons at me - enduring blasts that would tear lesser Sith in half - until I raise one hand, laughing as they fire off their last few blasts before clutching their throats. I choke the life out of them before slamming my hand shut, snapping their necks and bringing the battle to an end. In my dreams I see myself as a one woman army, indestructible, a wall charging across the battlefield, single-handedly causing breakthroughs across entire sectors." I explained, my visions were great, I would be a glorious Sith inflicting a bloodbath worthy of a Sith Pureblood. I was born during the twenty-year truce with the Republic but I live to see the war start all over again. I want to be a champion of the Sith as I turn the tide of countless battles. Some Sith desire only to beat Jedi in single combat and yes, I want to do that too, but I really want to be an army all on my own. In any case, I turned to Knyella, going to ask her the same question "What about you, why did you become a Marauder?"

"Surviving on Taris is rough, even now after two decades of continuous Sith rule, when there wasn't enough food, we would have to hunt. Speed was critical, not only to catch prey, not only to defeat them, but to then get out before a Rakghoul could arrive. When I was discovered to be Force sensitive, I tried to fit a number of different archetypes, I tried to be a Juggernaut at one point, I tried to be an Assassin at one point, but ultimately, my fighting style always came down to speed. There was no surviving a blow on Taris because the Rakghouls would poison you, you would simply have to kill it or at least scare it off before it got to you. I became a Marauder because it fit best with what I know." Knyella explained. I understood where she was coming from and I respected all Sith fighting styles, provided that the Sith were actually using their abilities to fight. I respected Knyella as a Marauder and I will help her hone her skills, I simply did not want to be a Marauder first. We both have valid reasons for what we specialized in and I am sure that we will battle excellently together.

We touched down at The Tomb of Exar Kun and left our speeder. I pulled out my Sith Warblade and activated it, the obsidian black weapon with two glowing red blades on either side. Syvone activated her twin weapons and we entered the Tomb, three deadly weapons prepared to take on whatever challenges the Tomb had for us. This was an honorary Tomb, Exar Kun was not actually buried here and the Tomb was built long after his death, most of the Tombs I have visited are like that, the exceptions being The Tomb of Ludo Kressh, the oldest Tomb I've been to, and The Tomb of the Empire's Wrath, the newest Tomb I've been to, so new in fact that the inhabitant hasn't actually died yet. Nevertheless, honorary Tombs were no lesser dangerous than the Tombs that had actual dead Sith within them, however, given that the mute and Gerona have both recently been through here, Knyella and I had encountered little resistance. I figured that this could very much be by design, Overseer Uzalso likely wanted me to develop a false sense of security before allowing me to stumble upon whatever great challenge she left for me. I did not fall for the trap however, I stayed on high alert and I tapped into the Force, searching for distinctive presences within the Dark Side fog typical to Tombs on Korriban. I felt Knyella first, a strong enough presence and a loyal one, but, as I searched farther and farther, I found another familiar presence, one that was no doubt my challenge. I made sure Knyella was following before proceeding towards this presence with haste, prepared for a battle.

"Hide behind the statues. I will face her in single her in single combat - I do not trust her to play fair." I explained to Knyella, speaking quietly and with few words, but it was enough to convey my point. I would do the honorable thing and crush my opponent, Gerona, on my own, if she cheats, only then will I cheat in kind by having Syvone enter the battle. I felt that this arrangement was just. Of course, I am more than capable of fighting through whatever trap Gerona springs at me, but Knyella is here and, as every Sith Lord knows, when you have resources, use them. Knyella simply nodded in reply, practically disappearing into the shadows behind the statues of ancient Sith. Between her tactics here and those she used in The Tomb of the Empire's Wrath, her brief experiment with Assassin training has revealed itself - I am intrigued to see when and how her Juggernaut training will manifest itself.

"Tsyllos Zharne, I assume you got my invite?" the blonde harpy barked as soon as I neared her. She was sat meditating, using the Force to join the pieces of her lightsaber together - this was all theatrics, she clearly assembled it beforehand, but she wanted to make it painfully clear that she was going to fight me with a weapon advantage. This was already giving her an advantage, but I sensed there was more to it, she had another trick up her sleeve. I will take on Gerona and her lightsaber before separating her from the weapon that clearly does not belong to her - I will not show my full hand until she shows hers - besides, I am more than capable of beating that insignificant cyborg wretch with a mere Warblade, regardless of what weapon she is using.

"Invite?" I asked as I circled around her like a vulture, ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness yet knowing that she suspects it - I decided that I would be cautious and distract her by playing along with her idiotic line of questioning. I will attack when the moment is right - no sooner and no later.

"Yes, I thought you and I could have a nice cup of tea, invite some guests, and have a nice time before I rip your chest open and devour your heart." Gerona said, a smile on her face, she was certainly good at pretending to be mad, however, unfortunately for her, so was I. I was good enough to make a Dark Councilor think that I was insane, her attempt at sociopathic madness is laughable, just like her fighting abilities, and just her like chances of becoming Sith. Becoming a Cyborg is an admission of weakness, proof that you either had to replace limbs before of your past failures or make up for your own lack of abilities - whatever it is in Gerona's case, her weakness or her inexperience will be her downfall. Being Sith is in her imagination, it is in my blood!

"You will try." I responded to her threat before swinging my Warblade down, a predictable strike and one she easily dodged, however, she did not realize that I was throwing her a dummy and thus fell for my trap. I kicked her in the spine before unleashing a concussive blast from my foot, sending her flying across the chamber where she chose to do battle. I slowly walked over to her, menacingly, dragging my Warblade across the cold stone ground to prepare her for her demise. I sensed her panic too - my tactics were working. Despite the panic making itself clear in her otherwise dull form - technology lessens the flow of the Force - she rose to her feet and ignited the lightsaber. A red blade erupted from the hilt, highlighting the room in a glorious red - she must have intended for the combination of the weapon and the ominous lighting to scare me, instead, I felt right in my element. I knew crushing Gerona was a purely academic affair, a lightsaber was simply a complication, it was not a game changer. Mine will be though, because, unlike Gerona, I am actually worthy of such a great weapon.

She leaped across the room with a battle cry and her lightsaber struck my Warblade. The lightsaber was clearly a superior weapon but the Warblade was good enough to stand up to its onslaught and that is all that I needed from her. We locked blades, both growling with vicious, murderous intent, both certain of our own victory. I broke the blade locked and swung low and then up across her torso, catching her off guard but she jumped backwards and deflected the blow, however, in doing so, she compromised her own position. I struck at Gerona again and again, the second strike knocking her flat on her ass and almost knocking her lightsaber out of her hand, but she reached out with the Force and pulled it back into her hand - just in time for me to stomp on her wrist, disarming her. An evil smirk appeared on my face as I realized that I had Gerona at my mercy...this turned from a battle to an execution...just how I like it!

"Any last words?" I asked in my hubris, I knew that I should have just executed her, however, she seemed to enjoy tormenting me despite the fact that I am her better in every way, therefore, it is only natural that I gain enjoyment from her destruction.

"I should be asking you that Sith, I have insured my success." She smirked in turn and I realized was was going on. I kept my left hand holding my Warblade pointed at her chest and reached out with my right hand to block the wrist of the second assailant and stop their Warblade from hitting me, however, the blow never came. I glanced over to find a very interesting site - the mute acolyte who I had thought dead was very much alive and was about to strike me dead with her Warblade, however, two Warblades, belonging to Knyella Syvone, blocked that attack. The Togruta had done her job.

"You're not the only one with insurance." Knyella boasted before engaging the mute in combat, meanwhile, Gerona rolled, knocking me off balance. I regained my stance immediately but that little slip up had been too much, Gerona had rolled away from my grasp and rose to her feet. The battle would not be that simple, however, her posture had weakened - my attacks were showing their effect, she was getting weaker and weaker with every blow. This time, I was going to go on the offensive - she was about to break, all I had to do was shatter her.

I swung my Warblade with just my left hand in a wide arc, an arc which her lightsaber easily caught but it left her open to my right hand grabbing her throat. She struggled against it but I was choking the life out of her, her eyes opened wide and even the cybernetic features on her face seemed to grow dimmer. I laughed in a quiet and sinister tone as I watched the Cyborg die. Her lightsaber was beginning to cut though my Warblade in the struggle so I dropped it and grabbed her wrist, something she had evidently been counting on because that is when she really started her struggle. She managed to angle her lightsaber in such a way that if she ignited it, it would cut my arm off, forcing me to release her, however, she was still a fool. I used the Force to keep choking her even after my right arm moved well away from her throat to avoid the red blade that reemerged from Gerona's undeserved weapon. I was strong in the Force, I was not a simple brute who could throw around a weapon and hope for results.

I watched as Gerona, the Cyborg brat who talked so much game, who thought so highly of herself, who promised to murder me brutally countless times die with a gasping breath for air that would do her no good. I put her out of her misery with a sickening snap that crushed her windpipe, killing her instantly. I turned around to see the mute die with a silent cry as two Warblades pierced her heart. Gerona and the mute were murdered easily, now it was time to earn our lightsabers. I pulled Gerona's lightsaber into my hand before crushing it - my mighty weapon will be mine and mine allow, she did not earn her lightsaber and thus I erased this abomination from the face of Korriban, righting Sith tradition. Victorious, Knyella and I left to make our own weapons.

"You did well." I kept my praise short but honest, Syvone did indeed do exactly what I needed her to do and even saved my life in the process, though I had been prepared and would have caught the mute's wrist anyway, it is certainly easier to march into a battlefield when I know I shall have Knyella at my side, prepared to save my life again just as she did here in The Tomb of Exar Kun.

"Thank you," Knyella smiled, evidently getting more used to our partnership and growing accustomed to my mannerisms "How did you know that the other acolyte - the one with the scarred neck - was going to ambush us?"

"I didn't know, but I suspected that Gerona was going to try something to win that battle. The last and only time she fought a fair fight she ended up loaded with cybernetics, that tells me all I need to know about the now extinguished wretch." I admitted, I really didn't know, I had suspicions and my suspicions turned out to be correct. It was certainly possible that Knyella would have stood there doing nothing while I murdered Gerona. We spoke about this while on our way to the crystal forge - Jedi used natural crystals refined from the mines of planets such as Ilum, the Sith made our own crystals, infused with the power of the Dark Side and made with exotic chemicals and materials that made the crystals superior to natural ones, however, the practical benefits of a Sith crystal over a natural one were, admittedly, negligible - anything that a lightsaber with a Sith crystal can do to kill, a Jedi lightsaber will kill as well.

Nevertheless, I would have a powerful crystal. I inserted a crystal into the forge and then sat down on the ground, meditating. I felt the chemicals flood the crystal, sapping deep inside of it, I felt the Dark Side of the Force engulfing it, and I felt the crystal becoming an extension of my own power. The crystal grew in size during this process and turned far more powerful than even I had been anticipating - I pushed down on it with the Force to decrease the size, increasing the density and adding even more Dark Side fuel to the fire. The forge released my crystal and I opened my eyes to find a deadly blood red crystal with a black core. It was dense and precise while at the same time being large and powerful. A mighty weapon would have to be created to house this crystal. I turned over to Knyella, finding that she had produced two crystals as well, hers were pure black - fitting, she is not yet deserving to wield the red weapons of the Sith but she is worthy of fighting for the Dark Side, so, her weapons shall be entirely black. Three lightsabers were created, now we just needed to create three vessels to house our mighty new crystals. I got to work immediately, forging my deadly weapon.

I choose a black metal for my blade - I could have gone with a similarly black carbon fiber material but I wanted a heavier hilt for reasons that shall become apparent shortly - and I created the interior structure first. The crystal's power was primarily channeled directly forward into a blade like all lightsabers, however, my excessive crystal had excess power, power which I used to create two crossguard emitters - one on either side. In addition to making my weapon even deadlier, these crossguards would prevent any lightsaber wielding opponent, Jedi or Sith, from cutting my arms off. I encased this internal structure in the black metal and added a weighted sphere at the bottom - a pommel. I wanted to be able to cut, stab, slash, and even batter enemies with this weapon, thus, I designed it to be able to strike in every direction. I glanced over to Knyella Syvone, finding the crimson skinned Togruta still kneeling on the ground meditating as she forged her twin lightsabers. She too had gone for the black metal but she had stuck to a conventional design, conventional, except for the four prongs crowning the emitter - but even that was fairly common amongst Sith lightsabers nowadays - nevertheless, when two obsidian blades emerged from those crowned emitters, her twin weapons looked absolutely murderous. We were not acolytes anymore, she was a brutal Dark Jedi Marauder and I was a relentless Sith Juggernaut. Together, we can bring the galaxy to its knees, fighting entire armies side by side and watching thousands of Republic scum falling before our mighty weapons.

I plunged my Warblade into the ground in the center of the chamber that the forge was in before activating my new crossguard lightsaber. Three red and black blades emerged with deadly intent. I rose the lightsaber with two hands above my head before bringing it down, cutting the Warblade clean in two from the hilt down - it had been an excellent weapon and it had brought me many kills, but I had outgrown it and nobody is fit to replace me, that blade would have never found itself in capable hands again after me, thus, I destroyed it - no one else shall bear my weapons.

Knyella Syvone was not as confident as I was, she left her two Warblades in a rack against the wall - she may have failed her trials due to circumstance, but I mean it when I saw that those blades will struggle to find themselves in equally capable hands ever again. Knyella is a fine warrior already and she will only grow stronger under my tutelage, she shall be magnificent, she may not necessarily become Sith, but she may very well become far stronger than most of my fellow warriors. I am glad to have her serving at my side as my Dark Jedi companion, she truly shall be an excellent beginning to my powerbase and, when I inevitably return to Korriban to claim my apprentice, perhaps my Togruta companion can prove her skills as a teacher. I will return to Korriban again, for that apprentice, for the events of that vision I experienced in The Tomb of Ludo Kressh, and, perhaps one day, for a Dark Council seat, however, for now, I am sure that Knyella and I will be leaving. We shall return to Lord Lalvinathy victorious and freshly armed just in time for her to send us off to serve her whims across the Galaxy. We shall travel far, we shall visit many worlds, and we shall crush many enemies in a glorious crusade for The Sith Empire and for the Dark Side of the Force!

"Come now, we must report to my new Master back at The Sith Academy." I spoke and the Togruta followed my order, I was a Sith now and, even if she was going to know me on a far more personal level than she has known any other Sith, she still spend her whole life growing up knowing that Sith are not to be disobeyed. I liked that about her, many aliens grow up on Republic or neutral worlds before being abducted into The Sith Empire as slaves, slaves who know nothing of our traditions or our way of life, but Syvone was from a Sith controlled world, Taris, a planet of ruin, but a planet of ruin under our control. Thus, Knyella knew to respect Sith and she knew that, from here on out, she lives and she dies according to me - she, in every way, belongs to me and she knows it. I am not one to misuse my power, but I have the ability to and that lingering threat shall ensure Knyella's permanent loyalty. The Togruta can see that there is a knife dangling over her throat and I determine what happens to that knife - I control her.

"Yes, of course Tsyllos," Knyella agreed and locked into step with me, she knew that I did not need to be addressed formally, she knew that I did not need her to worship me, the fact is, all I need her to do is know that I have all the power, beyond that, she is free. I want her to be comfortable around me, if I wanted a companion that wasn't a person I'd bring along a droid, no, I shall talk to her, I shall listen to her, perhaps I shall even pursue a greater bond with her. I want her to be interesting, I want to learn more about her, I want to understand her and I want her to feel the same way about me, I may be a Sith and I may fight with the Dark Side but that does not mean that I am above basic sentient needs. She will be the cornerstone of my powerbase, she shall be entirely subservient and loyal to me, but, at the same time, I hope that she can also be my friend.

* * *

"Tsyllos, Knyella," Lord Lalvinathy greeted as we entered her office, the sorcerer had her back to us, but make no mistake, she is strong in the Force and can eradicate us both with a single hand. I would imagine that she would use Force Lightning - an ability that is both terrifying and effective, however, there are ways to combat it - Force Lightning can be blocked by a lightsaber or even redirected by a sufficiently capable Force user. I now have the lightsaber and I am certain that I am capable enough to redirect lightning should I ever need to. These are the things that a Sith apprentice must think of, despite Empress Ecyntha's reforms, the apprentice killing the master is still the surest way for an apprentice to rise above her station. I am prepared to kill Lord Lalvinathy to further my career and she is prepared to kill me to prevent that, that is the way of the Sith and Ecyntha, try as she may, will not change that. It is impossible that killing my master and getting caught is the crime that leads to my trial before the Dark Council in that vision, however, considering how many of those Dark Councilors killed their masters, including the Empire's Wrath and Darth Imperius, I find myself doubting that.

"Master," I bowed before her, Syvone copying my every move. Our obedience finally made Lord Lalvinathy turn around and face us.

"You two are mighty warriors, deadly and formidable, you shall be my weapons. There is a device on Dromund Kaas, a Sith super-weapon that can destroy entire star systems but needs great battles and massive carnage to feed it. You shall journey to Dromund Kaas and find me my super-weapon, then, we shall set about creating the conditions for great battles." Lord Lalvinathy ordered, now I see why she wanted a Sith Juggernaut, I want to fight on the front lines in the heart of massive battles and she needs an apprentice to do just that, therefore, the Sith Juggernaut discipline was the natural choice for the both of us. As for creating the conditions for great battles, that could only mean one thing - Lord Lalvinathy wanted to return The Sith Empire to its natural state - at war with the Republic and its Jedi slaves. I smirked as I rose and turned around to leave Lalvinathy's office, my Master would give me exactly what I wanted and I would repay her by betraying her and taking it all for myself. I truly shall be an excellent Sith and I shall make the entire galaxy shudder at the mere mention of my name!

* * *

Okie dokie, this has been chapter five of The Armored Berserkers and when we return, whenever that may be, we shall kick off act one with Tsyllos and Knyella journeying to Dromund Kaas to begin Lord Lalvinathy's ambitious plans. I have a number of ideas floating around in my head both for this story and several other potential stories, so, like I said, if you have a strong opinion either way, now is the time to say it, convince me to do what you want me to do. In any case, in two weeks time, I intend to have something to post and, most likely, it will be something Star Wars related, it might be chapter six of this story, it might be a totally new story, it might even be a second attempt at a story that I tried to write once, I'm not sure yet - but I will be!

If the story isn't Star Wars related, I really don't know what it is going to be, maybe another EU4 story like Romans, maybe a DC superheroes thing because I have some ideas there, maybe something else but I'm thinking it will be Star Wars - if you have a strong opinion, convince me!

Ciao!


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